Teen of Steel: Reforged
by Cyclone
Summary: YAHF. When a young man comes back from the dead, how will his friends react?  On hold.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Teen of Steel: Reforged (1/?) 

Author: Cyclone

Feedback: Please be gentle.

Distribution: Gimme credit and a link.

Rating: Maybe a little harsh language, certainly some violence, but nothing worse than on BtVS.

Spoilers: Diverges wildly after Halloween for BtVS with possible spoilers up to the season eight comic and pretty much up to current DCU.

Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to other people. I'm just borrowing them for a while.

Summary: YAHF. When a young man comes back from the dead, how will his friends react?

Author's Note: Yeppers. Another bunny that wouldn't leave me alone. I guess I'm about due another barrage of new WIPs.

* * *

Conner dropped to his knees and tried to sort through the haze. Where was he? A... street? In a suburb somewhere? He frowned. The last thing he remembered was fighting that crazy other Superboy... and smashing into that big tower... and then... and then...

His eyes snapped wide open.

"CASSIE!"

In a flash, he took to the sky, not noticing the incorporeal redhead he left in his wake.

* * *

Wonder Girl hovered in front of the statue and wept silently. What she'd found in Robin's hidden laboratory had brought the pain and loss back. The wound was still raw and fresh, even after a year.

"Cassie?"

She gasped. The voice came from behind her, but she didn't turn around. She shook her head. "Shut up," she whispered. "You're not real. You can't be real. I have to accept that."

"Cassie, what happened?" the voice came again. "Please, tell me. The last thing I remember was... was fighting that... other Superboy. I remember smashing into that big tower, and then... what happened, Cassie? Please."

"You died," she said, resigned to playing along with the hallucination.

"Oh." She almost laughed. It sounded so... dumb. It sounded just like him when he realized he was being an idiot. "I guess... I guess that explains the statue, huh? Explains a lot, actually."

She couldn't control herself anymore. She turned, expecting to find herself talking to thin air. Instead... she gasped. She flew toward him uncertainly. He stayed where he was, letting her control the situation.

She collapsed into his arms and sobbed. She could feel his arms around her, strong and powerful. This was real. This was really happening.

"You're really here," she murmured.

"Yeah," Conner Kent replied. "I am."

She blinked her tears away and looked up at his face. She reached up and stroked his cheek, "You look... different."

He reached up and took hold of her hand, "Yeah. I kinda noticed that on my way here. I'm not sure what's going on, but... I'm here, now, and that's all that matters."

"You're right," she agreed quietly, leaning into him. "I missed you."

"I'm just glad you're all right," he said. He looked up at the statue and shook his head, "I can't believe they built a statue."

"You should see the one in Metropolis," she teased, glad for the distraction. "It's even bigger."

"You're kidding."

"Nope. It's huge."

A million different questions ran through her mind -- chief among them being "Is it **really** him?" and "If it is, how?" -- and she doubted she would get the answers from him.

But they could wait. Even if he wasn't real, she could at least enjoy the illusion for a little while.

* * *

He was kissing someone when the spell broke.

It wasn't his first kiss, not really. But he doubted that time he and Willow had kissed when they were five or that time when he was possessed by a hyena really counted for much. They certainly had nothing on this kiss.

He could feel her need as she kissed him fiercely, holding him tight, even as his own arms encircled her gently. It would be so easy to lose himself in the sensations...

He pulled away. She resisted. He persisted until she relented... and then pulled himself free of the hug until he hovered a few feet away from her, both of them high over San Francisco Bay.

The blonde blinked at him, confusion on her face, "Conner? What's wrong?"

Alexander Lavelle Harris looked up at her, sorrow and regret in his eyes. "I'm sorry," he choked out in a ragged voice. "I'm not Conner."

He turned... and fled.

* * *

"We've **all** been under a lot of stress lately, Cassie," Robin said gently. "New team, new members -- and I'm sure Ravager hasn't been making it easy on you -- Cyborg waking up, and then that mess with the Brotherhood..."

"I'm **not** crazy, Tim," she glowered. "It was him." She looked down, shaking her head, and said quietly, "And then, suddenly, it wasn't."

"Look, Cassie," he sighed, "I wish he'd come back too. You **know** that. But right now, Raven needs our help, wherever she is, and we'll be leaving for Russia tomorrow."

Cyborg had found the recording. Raven had been incredibly cryptic, only speaking obliquely of why she left, of how something she had could wreck morale even further, of how she wished Cyborg were awake to help. The last place Raven had been heard from was Russia, just last week.

"I'm not going," she said.

Robin looked at her, "What?"

She looked up, meeting his gaze, and repeated, "I'm not going. Even if that wasn't Conner last night, I... I have to find out who it was. And why. And how he knew all those things he knew about Conner. I'm sorry, Tim. But I have to know."

She turned and walked away.

A part of Robin wanted to stop her, but it was a small part, one that remembered that impulsive kiss they'd shared in his hidden cloning facility where he was trying to reclone Conner. It was a part of him that was shoved to the darkest corner of his mind where it wouldn't distract him.

After all, maybe it really **was** Conner.

* * *

Cassandra Elizabeth Sandsmark waited in front of the school. It had taken her several days to narrow it down. Conner had told her where he'd woken up, in the middle of the street in some small town. Coupled with the direction he -- or whoever it was -- had flown off in, she had an idea where to look.

There was definitely something strange in this town, though. Once she got within about a mile of it, she could feel something reaching into her head, trying to cloud her mind. It wasn't invasive, and it seemed to be some kind of localized effect, rather than a direct attack, so she filed it away. The Titans could investigate later.

Assuming they actually got a proper mystic in the group, that is.

She ignored the looks and stares she received from the passing students and teachers, as well as the whispers from the crowd that formed. She wasn't surprised. She **was** wearing her Wonder Girl outfit -- a red sleeveless shirt with gold trim and an eagle design on the front, blue jeans, and her lasso -- so a little attention was to be expected.

There he was. She felt her knees go weak at the visual reminder. He was wearing jeans, a flannel shirt, and a huge, goofy grin. He was walking down the front steps and talking with a pretty, if mousy, redhead. She stamped out a flare of jealousy and started walking. He had turned around and was walking backwards by the time she reached them.

"...and- hey, Will, what's wrong? You look like you've seen a- huh?" he blinked as he backed into her, then turned and blinked at her, first in confusion, then recognition... then regret.

She ground her teeth and declared, "We. Need. To. Talk."

"Yeah," he nodded, closing his eyes. He looked up and met her gaze again, "I guess we do."

She could feel her heart constrict. It was **his** voice. The face was different, yes, but the voice wasn't... and his eyes held the same mix of strength and caring she had seen in the eyes of everyone who wore the S shield.

He turned and looked at the redhead, who was opening and closing her mouth wordlessly, and said, "Go on ahead, Will. I'll call you tonight."

"A-a-all right," the redhead blinked, still half-stunned.

Cassie picked him up from under his shoulders and took off.

* * *

"Willow?"

"Yeah, Buffy?"

"Did Wonder Girl just fly off with Xander?"

"Uh huh."

"'Kay, just checking."

They fainted.

* * *

They were above cloud level when she finally broke the silence, "Can you fly?

"Yeah."

She let him go, and he hovered in place, then turned around to face her. Xander licked his lips uncertainly, "I guess you want some sort of explanation."

She crossed her arms and glared at him, "That would be a good start."

He sighed and closed his eyes. How should he explain this? He barely understood what had happened himself. And he still remembered.

Everything.

Certainly enough to understand how badly this was affecting Cassie.

After a moment, he opened his eyes and met her gaze, "It was Halloween, Ca- Wonder Girl. I wanted... I wanted to be a real hero, even if it was just pretend. So I dressed as Superboy. **Our** Superboy, not that psycho who killed m- him. But something happened, someone cast a spell. Everyone who bought any part of their costume from a certain store, including me, turned into whoever or whatever they dressed as."

He looked away. He couldn't face her, not about this. He continued, "I don't know why I kept the powers -- no one else did -- or why the memories I got didn't fade like everyone else's did, but I did, and they didn't. I'm sorry, Ca- Wonder Girl. I know how much you miss him. But I'm not him."

"But you **were**," she countered, almost accusingly. "For one night, you **were**."

"Yes," he agreed gently, "for one night, but that night's gone, Cassie. I'm just me again. Just Xander. Sure, I've got his powers, and yeah, I have his memories... but I'm not him." He looked up at the sky, "Superboy was a better man than I could ever be."

"Don't say that."

"Hmm?" he looked back at her.

She looked him in the eyes and said, "Don't say that. Don't put yourself down like that. Come with me. Back to the Tower. You're not him, but maybe... maybe, some day, you can be."

"I don't think he would have wanted that," Xander said quietly. "I won't be him. I might honor him by taking the name, but... I will be Xander Harris, not Connor Kent. I know that much about him."

She looked thoughtful for a long moment, then floated toward him, extending a hand, "Nice to meet you, Xander Harris. I'm Cassandra Sandsmark. Call me Cassie."

He shook her hand, "Nice to meet you, Cassie."

"So, **will** you be coming back to the Tower?" she asked.

"What?" he blinked. "Now?"

She nodded, biting her lip nervously, "I told Tim about that night. He thinks I've gone nuts."

"Ah," he nodded. "Well, can't have the world's second greatest detective thinking you're crazy. People would actually listen. There'd be talk."

"Thank you."

He grinned, "Race ya."

Without waiting for an answer, he took off with a sonic boom.

"HEY!"

Cassie followed, speeding to catch up to him, a grin growing on her face.

It was real. He was back. A little different, perhaps, and maybe he didn't agree, but...

Close enough.

And maybe some day, he'd come back completely.

* * *

Author's Postscript:

Yow. How's that for interesting, huh?

And yeah, Cassie has issues.


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Teen of Steel: Reforged (2/?) 

Author: Cyclone

Feedback: Please be gentle.

Distribution: Gimme credit and a link.

Rating: Maybe a little harsh language, certainly some violence, but nothing worse than on BtVS.

Spoilers: Diverges wildly after Halloween for BtVS with possible spoilers up to the season eight comic and pretty much up to current DCU.

Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to other people. I'm just borrowing them for a while.

Summary: YAHF. When a young man comes back from the dead, how will his friends react?

Author's Note: Yeppers. Another bunny that wouldn't leave me alone. I guess I'm about due another barrage of new WIPs.

* * *

Rose Wilson, aka Ravager, was furious. And hurt. And alone.

She shook it off and held onto her anger. _Fine,_ she thought. _If they don't want me around, then I'm leaving. I don't need them! I don't need the Titans!_

She almost managed to convince herself. Almost.

After Bombshell had accused her of being the traitor, Cyborg had told her to take the T-Jet and use the autopilot to return to the Tower. So, like a good little soldier, she did. Not that she was going to be with the Titans much longer if this kept up.

She got up as the plane landed and headed for the hatch, and as the hatch opened in front of her... her jaw dropped.

"Xander?"

* * *

It wasn't quite what Xander had expected. He knew the layout of the Tower -- not too much had changed -- but it was practically deserted, with the other Titans globetrotting to find Raven. Sure, Wendy and Marvin were trying -- Cassie too -- but he still felt awkward, wandering around in the Tower.

Even virtually empty, though, it felt more like home than the Harris household ever had. Which was really, really depressing.

He really missed Uncle Jo-... Mr. and Mrs. Kent.

"Hey, you hear that?" Cassie asked, perking up.

"I don't-" he started to shake his head, then stiffened. "Yeah, I do. What is that?"

It was a high-pitched whining sound, very faint, but getting closer.

"It's the T-Jet," she said, leaping to her feet. "C'mon, the others must have found Raven. Let's go meet them!"

"All right, all right," he said, unable to muster up quite as much enthusiasm. After all, Cassie might have accepted him, but how would the other Titans react to a chump like him trying to take Conner's place? He knew how **he'd** react if Buffy had actually died that night, and some new Slayer tried to take her place. Not well. Not well at all.

With him trailing behind Cassie, they headed for the hangar. When the hatch opened, however, he heard the last thing he expected:

"Xander?"

His head snapped up, and as his eyes processed what he saw, he sputtered, "Rose? What... but... huh?"

"You jackass," she said, walking up and smacking him in the head. "What the hell do you think you're doing here?"

Xander rubbed his head sheepishly and said, "Hey, it was Cassie's idea, not mine. Jeez, I really need to pay more attention to the news. So many Titans the past year, I hadn't realized you'd joined."

Cassie scowled, "You two know each other?"

"Yeah," Rose glared at her. "You got a problem with that?"

"It was last year," Xander said. "During the summer. Her foster parents were visiting from Chicago and took her along. I sort of know their niece, Amy, so that's kinda how we met. She taught me and Jess some neat self-defense tricks. Personally, I still think it was just an excuse to smack us around for hitting on her."

"Of **course** it was," she teased. "Just be glad you boys stopped when you did, or I'd have broken something."

"You mean besides our pride."

"What pride?"

"Okay, good point."

"How **is** Jesse doing, anyway?"

Xander's smile faded, and he turned away from both girls, "He's dead."

"Oh, f---," Rose swore quietly. "What happened?"

"Officially?" he glanced back at her. "He died in a gang fight at the Bronze."

"And unofficially?" Rose asked.

"Unnofficially?" Xander repeated quietly as he stalked away. "I killed him."

Wendy and Marvin walked right past him on their way in, blinked at the expressions on the two female Titans' faces, then asked in stereo, "Is this a bad time?"

* * *

Rose stepped out onto the roof of Titans' Tower and looked around. There was no sign of Xander.

"What are you doing here?"

She turned and glared at Wonder Girl. "Looking for Xander," she replied. "Knowing him, this is where he'd be."

The blonde lowered her head, "I was thinking the same thing. Conner used to come up here all the time."

Rose frowned. _Conner? What does Superboy have to do with...?_

Then, it clicked. Xander had said his presence was Wonder Girl's idea. There had to be a good reason she didn't go with them to find Raven. And what else could possibly be more important to her than Raven besides finding a way to bring her dead boyfriend back to life?

And she thought Xander would act like Conner. There had to be a reason for that...

Frankly, she thought it was pathetic, but it did give her an idea where to find him. She spun on her heel and headed for the stairs.

* * *

"I can't be you, Conner," Xander murmured to the statue. "Much as I want to be, for her sake, I can't. There's a part of you still in here, in me, but I'm more than that..." his head dropped, and he closed his eyes, "...though I'm starting to wonder just how **much** more."

"A whole lot more, Xander."

He looked down and floated to the ground, "Rose?"

She pulled him into a hug, "I know you, Xander, and trust me, you're **not** him."

"Thanks, Rosie."

Thwap!

"Ow! What was that for?"

"As I said, you're still Xander, which means I'm still allowed to smack you around when you deserve it."

"Damn it, it's bad enough you got Will doing that," he grumbled.

"So, uh, how is Willow, anyway?" Rose asked hesitantly, considering his answer to the last person she'd asked that about.

"Oh, Will's fine," Xander waved it off... right before his eyes shot to the size of dinner plates. "Oh, hell, I've got to call her. Be right back!"

Rose watched him run back into the Tower, then shook her head in amusement as Wendy and Marvin rushed up to her and began talking about an old encyclopedia volume that went missing and parts of pages found in the trash.

* * *

"Xander?"

"Hey, Cassie," Xander waved, then spoke into the phone. "Sorry, Will, that was Wonder Girl. What did you say?"

"Did you just blow off **Wonder** **Girl**?" Willow sputtered.

Tap, tap, tap.

"Yeah," Cassie asked, her hands on her hips, tapping her foot. "**Did** you?"

Xander blinked slowly. "There's no way I can answer this and not get hit, is there?"

Thwap!

"Not likely," Cassie grinned, having given him a very mild swat to the head.

"I'll call you back later, Will," Xander spoke into the phone. "Love ya, bye." He hung up and turned to Cassie, "So, what's up?"

"We're heading out," she said. "Phoenix, Arizona. We're going to join up with the other Titans."

"So, what's that got to do with me?" he asked. "I'm not a Titan, remember?"

"Not yet, maybe," she said. She shoved a folded shirt into his hands and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Come with us, Xander. Meet the team."

Xander held up the shirt. It was one of Superboy's black S shield T-shirts. "I-I can't..."

"I can understand if you're not ready," she said quietly, "but we've got to go now. At least wait here for us if you won't come along."

Xander sighed, "All right."

* * *

"By Hera," Cassie stared out the window of the T-Jet at the other plane as it began to plummet after having something -- or someone -- thrown out through the fuselage's wall.

"That's G.I. Jane's plane," Rose snapped. "The other Titans are on there! **Eddie!**"

"They're not dead yet," Cassie said, bracing herself as she opened the T-Jet's hatch and flew out. "Hang on!" she warned the occupants of the plane as she caught hold. "This might get a little rough!"

She grunted as she strained against the weight of the plane, slowing it to a controlled crash on a mostly deserted freeway.

"Ouch."

"I'm glad you decided to join us," Robin said, climbing out of the plane. "I didn't know you were **that** strong."

"Me either."

* * *

In Sunnydale, Dawn Summers wept.

She wept for a past forgotten, a world destroyed, and a future that would never be.

Buffy didn't remember. Willow didn't remember. Not even Xander remembered, and he was right there when it happened.

But Dawn remembered. It had happened just like in the comics.

It had started when they'd brought Buffy back. The second time. The first time Buffy died, she hadn't really gone, but the second time... they had pierced the barrier. It was hard, almost impossible. But they had done it. Like Superman, she was the world's greatest hero. And like Superman, she was the first of many.

Willow had mentioned that it had seemed much easier when she brought Kennedy back, barely two years later. And Amy, they suspected, had actually brought Warren back, rather than swapping him for a fake-out like they claimed; the First Evil wouldn't have been able to use his form if he hadn't died. And Spike had come back too, in L.A.

And then there were the ones they had never expected, the ones who came back on their own. Cordy. Anya. Tara. Kendra. Even Mom.

The door had been opened. Reality had been fracturing. The only way to save it had been with a powerful and dangerous ritual. It was a gamble. It needed to happen at the right time, the right place... and it needed the Key. It needed her.

There had been chaos. She remembered little of the experience itself, but she remembered some of it, the fear, the desperation. They couldn't just fill the gaps. Perhaps, had they tried earlier, they could have, but the damage had been too great.

She remembered flailing around, grabbing for something -- anything -- to help her anchor it. She found it. Another reality was going through similar toils, a devastating crisis that fractured one into fifty-two. She wasn't sure how she did it, but she had managed to fuse them together.

She didn't know why it had settled on that one Halloween, or why the changes she noticed had come about, or even why it had finally settled over a year after the other reality's crisis.

But when the dust cleared, she **did** recognize the other reality.

"And now, Xander's apparently hooking up with Wonder Girl," she muttered sourly. "Figures."

She wept for a past forgotten, a world destroyed, and a future that would never be.

But mostly, she wept for her chances of getting a date within the next five years.

"Being eleven again really sucks."

* * *

Author's Postscript:

So... who was expecting any of that? Anyone? Anyone?

Oh, this may, in fact, be the first of a group of series hingeing on Infinite Crisis. Or maybe not.


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Teen of Steel: Reforged (3/?) 

Author: Cyclone

Feedback: Please be gentle.

Distribution: Gimme credit and a link.

Rating: Maybe a little harsh language, certainly some violence, but nothing worse than on BtVS.

Spoilers: Diverges wildly after Halloween for BtVS with possible spoilers up to the season eight comic and pretty much up to current DCU.

Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to other people. I'm just borrowing them for a while.

Summary: YAHF. When a young man comes back from the dead, how will his friends react?

Author's Note: Yeppers. Another bunny that wouldn't leave me alone. I guess I'm about due another barrage of new WIPs.

* * *

They had been played like violins.

They had gone to Russia, spoken with Red Star, and found evidence that Raven was hunting down a traitor within the Titans. From there, they'd met with Zatara in Tokyo, then Miss Martian in Australia. There, Miss Martian told them that Raven was heading to the China Sea to meet with Bombshell.

It was Bombshell. Her skin had been bonded with the same dilustel alloy that encased Captain Atom. She told them she had been working with Raven on uncovering the traitor and fingered Ravager.

They'd sent her back to the Tower, and Robin had figured out Raven's next destination: Phoenix, Arizona. She had been researching the ritual Brother Blood had used to resurrect her. On the way, Miss Martian had arrived, told them she'd broken her rule about reading the minds of good people, tried to warn them.

Bombshell had cut her off, accused her of being the traitor, revealed that she was a White Martian, and incidentally trashed the plane. And so, they believed her, helped her take down Miss Martian.

But now... Jericho was back, and Bombshell was pissed, holding one of the planes up over her head. She wasn't alone either. Her Quantum Soldiers were ready to back her up against the Titans, so it wasn't going to be an easy fight.

"There's no telling how **powerful** she really is," Robin said. "We need to take her down **fast**."

Suddenly, a voice echoed from the darkness.

"I think it's fairly obvious who the bad guy is here."

The plane was suddenly ripped from Bombshell's grasp and slammed down on top of her. She roared and tossed it aside, turning around and watching warily. Robin froze in surprise for an instant.

_That voice..._

Bombshell suddenly went flying past, and Robin snapped out of his reverie. He looked. Stepping out of the shadows was...

"Conner?"

His face was slightly different, but... the jeans, the shirt, the way he carried himself... the **voice**...

"No, Robin," came the reply. "Like I told Cassie, I'm not Conner. Now, Cassie, go high," he said, gesturing at Bombshell, who was rising to her feet.

Wonder Girl nodded and took to the sky. There was no hesitation. She just moved.

Robin watched as... Superboy... dropped to one knee and placed a hand on the ground. A blast of telekinetic energy slammed Bombshell from below, sending her into the sky, where Wonder Girl greeted her with a double overhand that sent her crashing back to the ground.

_A TTK blast?_ Robin wondered, analyzing even as he fought his own share of the Quantum Soldiers. _Conner hasn't used that since Young Justice._

As Robin processed his observations, he began to understand the similarities and differences. Whoever this Superboy was, he didn't have all of Conner's powers, only his original tactile telekinesis. More than that, as Superboy coordinated the assault, Robin realized he had something that Conner had never really had: A powerful command presence.

He broke from his analysis as he suddenly realized that even he and Cyborg had slipped back and was letting him call the shots for now. And he was doing a good job of it too.

"So," Superboy said, pulling Bombshell into a full nelson, "I'm guessing from the shiny skin you're like a mini-Captain Atom, am I right?"

"That's right," she sneered back at him. "Which means if you break this shell, I go boom, along with you and everything else within fifty miles."

She flared with energy, forcing him back and to the ground.

"Hold your ground," Robin ordered.

"Oh, we don't have to do **that**, Robin," Miss Martian said cheerfully. "I just read her mind."

"And?" Wonder Girl prompted.

Miss Martian glanced over and smiled, "She's **totally** lying."

"Oh, good," Superboy said, standing up and slamming into Bombshell, throwing her onto her back and straddling her. Placing a hand on her chest, he said, "Then I guess that means I can do **this**. Mind you, I'm an amateur, so this probably gonna hurt. A lot."

Bombshell shrieked and arced her back in pain. It took a moment for Robin to understand what was happening.

"My God," he murmured in slightly nauseated fascination. "He's using tactile telekinesis to rip the metal off of her."

After a moment, Bombshell collapsed, blood and fragments of dilustel scattered around her. Superboy panted and muttered, "Well, that was a lot... harder and... messier than I thought it would be."

"Hey," Wonder Girl stepped forward, placing a hand on his shoulder, a teasing tone in her voice, "you can take your hand off the naked girl's chest now."

Superboy blinked and looked down, apparently noting for the first time that he was now straddling a naked and unconscious girl, with his hand on her chest. He yanked his hand back as though he'd been burned, then scrambled away, half-panicked.

Robin stepped forward and checked on Bombshell. Her skin was burned, ripped, and torn, but it wasn't life-threatening. He looked up at Superboy, "Who **are** you?"

"That," Superboy hesitated, then smiled, "is a story for another time. I'd rather wait until we get back to the Tower first, Robin."

Robin crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. He opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by a hand on his shoulder.

"Leave him alone, Robin," Wonder Girl said. "It's not like **you'd** want someone you just saved demanding **your** secrets out in public, would you? I'll vouch for him. So will Ravager."

Ravager nodded.

"Thanks, Cass," Superboy said.

Robin's eyes bugged out at Wonder Girl's words. Something Cassie and Rose actually **agreed** on?!

"Oh, God," he muttered. "It's the end of the world."

Superboy slapped a hand on his shoulder, "Eh, been there, done that, got the T-shirt." He paused, then frowned and picked at the S shield T-shirt he wore, "Man, that was a lot tackier than I meant it to be, now that I think about it."

Thwap! Thwap!

"That was awful," Wonder Girl scowled.

"Even for you," Ravager added.

"Hey!" Superboy protested. "I didn't **mean** it! I was talking about the apocalypse we had to deal with back home!" He shook his head, "And hey, you've known me for all of what, one afternoon, Wondy? And that's how you thank me for coming to the rescue?" He mock-glared at Ravager, "I swear, it's all your fault, Missy. Ever since I met you, girls have been getting more and more violent toward me." He rubbed his head and complained, "And sooner, too. Why, I- mmph!"

His tirade was interrupted by a pair of green hands yanking him forward by his shirt. His eyes glazed over, and when Miss Martian released him from the kiss, he was left standing in a daze.

"Hubba-wha?" he blinked. "What was that for, uh..."

"Miss Martian," she supplied helpfully, "but my friends call me Megan, and **I'm** grateful you showed up."

"Why is it I always seem to have better luck with the non-human girls?" Superboy wondered aloud. He looked at Miss Martian, "Is your tongue normally that long?"

Miss Martian smiled innocently.

* * *

"So, what's the story on this Superboy?" Agent Diana Prince of the Department of Metahuman Affairs asked quietly as her partner -- Agent Tom Tresser, aka Nemesis -- discussed Bombshell with the rest of the Titans.

"Sort of complicated," Cassie replied, equally quietly. "Long story short, he dressed as Conner on Halloween, and someone cast a spell that turned him into Conner that night. Since then, he's kept Conner's TTK and memories."

"Does Superman know?"

"I... don't think so," Cassie said hesitantly. "I kind of... had to hunt him down. That's where I've been the last week or so. Looking for him. He's not... he's not very comfortable with all this. I think he's kind of overwhelmed."

"He did quite a number on Bombshell."

"He was just protecting us, Diana."

"Why are you defending him?" Diana frowned.

"Why are **you** attacking him?" Cassie retorted. "So she got hurt. It's not like it's the first time a bad guy got taken down hard, is it? You're the last person to accuse someone of going too far. Especially considering all the damage **she** did to **us**."

She turned away.

"Cassie..." Diana reached a hand out.

"When we needed him... when **I** needed him, he was here."

Diana's hand dropped, "And I wasn't."

"That's enough, Cassie."

They turned. "Co- Xa- Superboy," Cassie sputtered. "What...?"

He tapped his ear, "Super-hearing. Dunno why, but it's been kicking in and out randomly for the past couple of days. She's right, Cassie. I'm an unknown. I haven't proven I'm trustworthy, and leaving Bombshell a bloody mess isn't exactly a good start. Me, showing up with Kon's memories and powers without a word to anyone, not even Superman? Too convenient. She's just worried about you. Rightfully so."

"So, why **don't** you talk to Superman?" Diana asked.

"I'm afraid," he said bluntly. "You have to understand, everyone looks at him and sees the world's greatest hero. But to me, he's also the third scariest person on the planet."

"Third?" Cassie raised an eyebrow. "Who are the first two?"

"Batman and Buffy's mom," he nodded sagely.

They blinked.

"I'm gonna head on back to the Tower now," he said. "I've got some thinking I need to do, and I think..." he glanced at the other Titans, "...I think the others would like a chance to talk to you and Rose about me, Cass. **Without** me hanging around and maybe listening in."

With that, he took off.

Cassie frowned, "He's always doing that."

"What? Flying off without a word?"

"Well, that too. I meant reading my mind."

"Could he be a Martian?"

"**Diana**..."

* * *

Author's Postscript:

It's a valid question.


	4. Chapter 4

Title: Teen of Steel: Reforged (4/?) 

Author: Cyclone

Feedback: Please be gentle.

Distribution: Gimme credit and a link.

Rating: Maybe a little harsh language, certainly some violence, but nothing worse than on BtVS.

Spoilers: Diverges wildly after Halloween for BtVS with possible spoilers up to the season eight comic and pretty much up to current DCU.

Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to other people. I'm just borrowing them for a while.

Summary: YAHF. When a young man comes back from the dead, how will his friends react?

Author's Note: Yeppers. Another bunny that wouldn't leave me alone. I guess I'm about due another barrage of new WIPs.

* * *

"That's it?" Cyborg scowled. "Based on... **that**, you let him into the Tower?" 

"I didn't just walk up and fly him off, Cyborg," Cassie scowled right back. "I did some research. I may not be as good as Robin, but I'm not totally incompetent."

"Besides, all that aside, **I** know him," Rose added. "I met him before my father... did what he did to me. He was... a really sweet goofball, loyal to a fault. He'd die for his friends, Cyborg."

Cyborg's gaze swept to Ravager, then back to Wonder Girl, "Come on, Cassie, if **she** trusts him-..."

"I said **before** what my father did to me," Rose interrupted, grabbing Cyborg and leaning into his face angrily. "**Before** he shot me up and **before** I carved out my f---ing eye!"

"Everyone, calm down," Robin said, stepping between them. "What's done is done. The question is... what do we do about him now?"

"You know where I stand," Cassie replied, crossing her arms.

"And rare as it is," Rose added, moving to stand beside her, "I'm with Wonder Bi- Wonder Girl."

"Me too," Miss Martian, aka Megan Morse, added, flanking Cassie opposite Rose.

All eyes turned to the last female there: Raven.

"What?" she asked. She glanced at all of them, "As it happens, I agree with Victor. We don't know him. He can't be trusted."

"Neither can you, when you get right down to it," Kid Devil said quietly, walking over to stand by Rose. "Neither can I. Neither can Rose. Or Jericho. Or Miss Martian. Heck, for all we know, someone could hack into Cyborg and turn **him** against us."

"You're right, Raven," Megan said. "We **don't** know him. Yet. But we never will if we don't give it a try, will we?" She looked at Cyborg, "I told you why I left. Because the Titans weren't really a team. Because no one trusted or even liked each other. Because everyone treated everyone else exactly like you're saying we should treat Superboy."

"He's **not** Superboy," Robin interjected firmly.

"Not yet," Cassie shot back. "But he can be. With our help. He did that S proud tonight, Robin, and you know it."

Robin scowled, then nodded, "Fine. We'll invite him in. If he really has all of Conner's memories, he's too dangerous to let loose anyway."

"Oh, **that'll** go over well," Rose sneered. "Is that why you keep **me** around? To keep an eye on me? Because you don't trust me?"

"That's not it at all, Rose."

"Yeah," she spat, turning on her heel and stalking off toward the T-Jet. "I'm sure it isn't."

* * *

"Hey." 

"Hey, Cassie," Xander said, still staring out across San Francisco Bay. He was sitting on the edge of the roof of Titans' Tower. "So, how'd it go?"

"Not as well as I'd hoped," she admitted, sitting next to him, "but better than I expected. You're in, if you want. I'm speaking unofficially, of course. Robin wants to be the one to make the offer."

"I see," he said quietly.

They sat there for a long moment.

"Penny for your thoughts?" she asked gently.

"Just wondering how they took the news about what I told you about Jesse," he said.

"You didn't tell me much," she said, looking away. "So I didn't mention it. Neither did Rose."

"Bad move," he replied. "Something like that... it'll come out, could break the team apart."

"Hmm," she said noncommitally.

There was silence again.

"Tell me about Jesse."

"I..." he hesitated, shootiong her a sidelong glance, then looked away. "He was my best friend, Cassie. My brother in all but blood. It was just under a year ago. Y'see, Sunnydale High's built on the mouth of hell. Only, we didn't know it. The place is Vampire Central... and they turned him. Back then, I didn't really accept that the soul was gone. I tried to reason with him. I had a stake, and then... the crowd... he just got shoved right onto it."

Cassie placed a comforting arm around his shoulders, and he patted her hand, "So, now you know." He turned and looked over his shoulder and added, "Now you both know."

Cassie looked over her shoulder in surprise and saw Rose standing on the roof behind them. She felt a flash of irritation and glared at the other Titan, but Rose ignored it and walked up to Xander. She looked him in the eyes, "It wasn't your fault, Xander."

"As much as I hate to say it," Cassie said, "she's right. You said it yourself. His soul was gone. You didn't kill him, Xander. The vampire who turned him did. You just killed the monster wearing his face."

He chuckled bitterly, looking back out over the bay, "I know that. Don't you think I know that? But there's a way I could've had him back, if I hadn't dusted him. There's a vampire we work with. He was cursed a hundred years ago by gypsies. They gave him his soul back." He looked at Cassie, "Come on, Cassie. Can you honestly look at me and say you don't see the same thing with Conner?"

Xander shoved himself off the roof and drifted down to the ground.

Cassie could only stare after him, frozen in shock at the accusation. A hand on her shoulder snapped her out of it. "I'll talk to him, Wondy."

She frowned and looked that platinum blonde with suspicion, "Why are you being so... **nice** to me? We hate each other's guts, remember?"

"Yeah, we do," Rose agreed, "but Xander's my friend, and he's clearly got some serious issues he needs to work out with you. Unlike some people, I don't have friends to spare," she said, turning back toward the roof access. "And besides, I know what it's like to have identity issues."

* * *

"Xander." 

"Hey, Rosie," Xander turned and waved. He was standing near the statue and had been staring up at it, lost in thought. As she sidled up next to him, he asked, "Is this gonna be, like, a recurring theme or something?"

"Hey, you're the one that keeps wandering off alone, forcing one of us to come find you," she retorted. "You want to talk about it?"

"What's there to talk about, Rose?" he shrugged helplessly. "She hasn't gotten over him, not yet. And until she does, she won't see me as anything but a replacement for him." He looked over at her, "How about you? Anything you want to talk about?"

"Like what?"

"Like, I dunno, what's up with the pirate impression?"

She unconsciously reached up to touch her eyepatch. "I was going through a bad time," she said quietly. "I was... I was trying to prove my loyalty to my father."

"I guess... that didn't work out, huh?" he asked gently, reaching up to her face.

She caught his wrist and shook her head, "No. It really didn't."

"I'm sorry," he said, pulling back.

"How do you do it, Xander?" she asked. "How do you live with something like... like Jesse's death? How can you act like everything's normal between us after all I've done?"

"I don't-"

She pinned him with a glare that stopped him mid-sentence. "Don't lie to me, Xander. You have Superboy's memories. You've seen what I've tried to do. And not just me, but Joey too. God damn it!" She whirled away and stalked off a few steps. "He tried to break up the Titans, nearly killed Bart, and I tried to kill my own brother! What kind of f---ed up family are we?" She hugged herself and shuddered.

Xander placed a hand on her shoulder and turned her around, pulling her into a hug.

"Hey, Rosie, come on," he said, "it'll be all right." She looked up at him, and he stroked back her hair and continued, "You're strong, Rosie. Most people would have broken after what you've been through, but you didn't. You changed with it. You adapted. You survived." She buried her face in his shoulder and sniffled.

They stood there like that for several long moments before she suddenly stiffened.

"Xander?"

"Hmm?"

"Please remove your hand from my ass before I remove it from your wrist," she said, smiling sweetly.

He grinned cheekily back, "Make me."

Two minutes later...

"Ow, ow, ow, ow! Okay, okay! I give! Uncle! Uncle!"

"Ya big baby," Rose snorted as she released him from the joint-lock. "You could've used your powers to break out any time."

"Don't be so sure," Xander replied, massaging his shoulder. "I only seem to have the TTK, and that needs concentration to use, and it's kind of hard to concentrate-"

"When you're in pain like that," she nodded in understanding. "You might want to work on that."

"Actually, that wasn't what I was going to say."

She looked at him and frowned, "It wasn't?"

"Nope," he shook his head. "I was going to say is that 'it's kind of hard to concentrate with your chest shoved in my face like that.'"

Thwap!

"You haven't changed a bit, have you?"

* * *

Swishhh-THUNK! 

Swishhh-THUNK!

"Superboy?"

Xander turned toward the door. He had found the archery range once used by Speedy -- Mia Dearden -- and had been spending time practicing.

"Hi, Megan," he waved. _Yup,_ he thought. _Definitely a recurring theme._

"Robin's looking for you," she said.

"I know," he nodded. "I just... needed some time alone to think." He turned back to the range.

Swishhh-THUNK!

"Oh," she said. She looked over at the cluster of arrows in and around the bull's eye. "You're quite good."

"Yeah," he said. "I seem to have a knack for it. I've only been at this for a little less than a year."

"Why did you start?"

He shrugged, "That was about the time I started hunting vampires. Dusting from a distance just seemed like a good idea. I'll never be as good as Team Arrow, but I'm good enough."

"Oh."

Swishhh-THUNK!

Swishhh-THUNK!

Swishhh-THUNK!

"You're not going to stay, are you?" she asked, breaking the silence.

Xander mentally debated what to say.

"No, I'm not. I can't stay here, Megan. Aside from you and Jericho and maybe Kid Devil, no one here really sees me for me."

Swishhh-THUNK!

Outer edge of the bull's eye.

"Cyborg and Robin see me as a threat -- which, granted, they have good reason to -- but having someone the Titans' senior members don't trust on the team is just going to make things harder, especially since the team's just barely starting to get together."

Swishhh-THUNK!

Near the center of the bull's eye.

"Raven isn't comfortable with someone who grew up on the hellmouth and spent the past several months hunting vampires and demons, and Rose still sees me as the goofball she met last year."

Swishhh-THUNK!

Dead center.

"I've changed a lot since then, not even counting the whole Superboy thing, and she can't see that."

"And Wonder Girl?"

Swishhh-CRACK!

Xander blinked as he realized he had split the last arrow with his last shot. He shook his head and sighed, putting the bow down and looking at the Martian girl.

"She's the main reason I'm leaving," he said quietly. "She looks at me and sees Conner, and that's not healthy. I can't do that to her."

"You really care about her, don't you?"

He snorted, "I've got Conner's memories. All of them." He voice dropped, "I can't **not** love her, Megan, but until she stops seeing me as a replacement for Conner..." He trailed off and shook his head.

"And if you never let her learn who **you** are, she'll never see anything **but** Conner in you." Her voice dropped, "And... I would like you to stay."

Neither realized that there were others listening in. All in all, it was a surprisingly large audience at that.

* * *

Author's Postscript: 

Yes, thanks to Mythbusters, I **do** know it's not possible to actually split an arrow in real life, but in the DCU, it **is** possible.

One of my readers have asked why Cassie didn't get jealous when Megan kissed Xander last chapter, and I realized it's a valid question. The answer is actually pretty simple: Who said she didn't get jealous? That scene, along with most of the chapter, is told from the third person limited perspective from Robin's POV, and while he's been trained to read body language, he doesn't read minds, and he isn't paying attention to Cassie at that moment.


	5. Chapter 5

Title: Teen of Steel: Reforged (5/?)

Author: Cyclone

Feedback: Please be gentle.

Distribution: Gimme credit and a link.

Rating: Maybe a little harsh language, certainly some violence, but nothing worse than on BtVS.

Spoilers: Diverges wildly after Halloween for BtVS with possible spoilers up to the season eight comic and pretty much up to current DCU.

Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to other people. I'm just borrowing them for a while.

Summary: YAHF. When a young man comes back from the dead, how will his friends react?

Author's Note: Yeppers. Another bunny that wouldn't leave me alone. I guess I'm about due another barrage of new WIPs.

* * *

"Come on, Xander, why won't you tell us?" Willow frowned.

"I **did** tell you, Willow," he said, holding up his hands defensively. "It was about what happened on Halloween. You **know** Wonder Girl and Superboy were close. When I was him, he went to her. She just wanted to follow it up, get some answers."

"You were gone almost the whole night!"

"Yeah, sorry about that. There was an emergency with some Captain Atom rip off over in Arizona, and well, I can't exactly walk from Titans' Tower back to Sunnydale."

"All right," Buffy nodded. "Sooo... tell us about Robin."

"Yeah!" Willow's eyes lit up at that.

"Aw, Willow, I'm hurt," came a voice from the side. "I come all this way with the X-man, and you just want to hear about Wonder Boy?"

The redhead turned and blinked slowly, "Rose?"

She cocked her head, "Xander thought it might be a good idea to come visit, at least. How you been, Red?"

"Rose!" Willow barrelled into the other girl, who stiffened and then awkwardly hugged her back. "OhmygodIcan'tbelieveit'syouhowareyouwhathappenedIwassoworriedwhenIheardfromAmyaboutherauntanduncle..."

"Whoa, slow down there, Red," Rose chuckled and extracted herself from the hug. She turned to the side and said hesitantly, "I'd... I'd like you to meet my brother. Joey, this is Willow. Willow, Joey."

Willow turned, "Um, hi." Joey waved, and Willow blinked as his hands moved. "What? What did he...?"

"He said 'it's nice to meet you,'" Rose supplied. "His throat was cut years ago, making him mute."

"Yeah, about that," Xander said, stepping forward. "Didn't Raven, like, grow him a whole new body? So shouldn't his vocal cords be intact now?"

"Whoa, time out!" Buffy interrupted. "'Grow him a whole new body'? What?"

"Uh..."

Thwap!

"Good going, rockhead," Rose snorted after the light swat she had strategically placed on the back of his head.

Xander sighed and shot an imploring look at the sky before looking back at her, "Rosie, I thought we'd discussed this form of communication already... and how I still owe you for introducing it to Will."

Thwap!

"**Willow!**"

* * *

"Okay," Dawn muttered to herself, looking into her dresser mirror, "this is the DCU. In the DCU, special people always have superpowers.

"Or go insane and try to kill people. Let's not focus on that one too much.

"I'm the Key. That's pretty special. So, I've got superpowers. The only question is... what kind of powers?"

"You're not special, Dawnie."

"Xander!" she shrieked, spinning around in surprise.

He smiled, "You're extraordinary."

Dawn gasped, then whispered exitedly, "You remember."

Xander frowned, "Remember what?"

Her smile faded, and she shook her head, "Oh... nothing. Never mind."

"Your mom said something seems to be bothering you lately," Xander said. "Care to talk about it, squirt?"

"It's nothing," she said, waving it off. "It's just... you ever get the feeling things aren't the way they're supposed to be?"

"Yeah," Xander nodded, "but then, everyone's been feeling a bit off since the crisis last year."

"Xander," she said quietly, "what would you say if I called you The One Who Sees?"

"I..." he trailed off as he touched his temple. After a moment, he shook his head, rubbing his left eye, and said, "I'd have to ask what comics you've been reading lately, Dawnie. That sounds like magic, and you know me and magic don't mix well."

Dawn's eyes snapped wide. It was **far** too early for him to think that. He hadn't actually **had** any misfired spells happen yet.

"Dawn? You okay?"

"Sure, Xander," she chirped with a grin. "I just need to talk to Giles. Research!" She slipped past him and was off.

Xander blinked.

"Huh. Wonder what that was about."

* * *

"So. Still crushing on him?"

Willow flushed.

"Still haven't told him yet either, have you?"

She shrank back.

Rose sighed and shook her head. The two were at a booth in the Espresso Pump, catching up with each other. "Willow, I **told** you he's too dense to see it unless you come right out and say it."

"B-but... I..." she stammered.

"Six months," Rose said quietly.

"Wh-what?" Willow blinked.

Rose looked up and met her gaze, "I'm giving you six months before I come back and make a move on him myself."

"You?" she squeaked. "But you-"

"I've changed, Willow, and not really for the better," she interrupted. "I've learned that life's too short to put off enjoying it until later, and now that you're hunting vampires, your odds of having a later just took a sharp drop."

"'H-hunting'?" Willow squealed. "I am **not** hunting vampires," she retorted indignantly. "I'm mostly just researching... and... maybe... watching Buffy hunt vampires."

"Riiight," Rose deadpanned. "And that's not dangerous at all."

* * *

"I... I don't know about this," Rose protested, backing away from the house.

"You should talk to her, Rose," Xander said, taking hold of her right arm. "Putting it off isn't going to make it go away."

"But... it's my fault," she said quietly. "Her aunt and uncle were killed because of **me**." She closed her eyes, "Because of my uncle and father."

"I think she'll understand better than you think," Willow said, grabbing her left arm. As she and Xander marched Rose toward the Madison house, she elaborated, "Just last year, her mother took over her body just to become a cheerleader."

Rose stopped dead in her tracks, only to be yanked forward by Xander, which in turned caused Willow to be pulled first back, then forward, resulting in the three of them stumbling into a heap.

"She **what**?"

Xander sighed, "Willow, I thought we agreed long ago that Jesse and I were the ones who were supposed to put our foot in our mouths that badly. We had the coordination to handle it after all."

Willow's face reddened to match her hair.

"I still can't believe the school's on a hellmouth," Rose grumbled. "You'd think one of the big shot mystics would've noticed something like that."

"High school is hell," Xander shrugged. "Just literally, in this case. How do you expect them to tell the difference??

"Xander? Willow? What are you... doing... here? Rose?"

Rose looked up, "Hi, Amy."

* * *

"So, any hobbies?"

Thud! Crack! Poof!

"I mean, you can't be fighting evil all the time, can you?"

Slash! Crunch! Poof!

Buffy brushed a hand across her forehead as the last vampire crumbled to dust. She looked over at her companion, "Wow. Real strong silent type, huh?"

"I'm..." Joseph Wilson coughed as the vampire he staked exploded in front of him, "I'm not... used to talking like this."

"Don't worry," Buffy said. "Wind her up, and Willow does enough talking for all of us." She positioned herself behind him, drew her stake back, and said, "Okay, I'm ready."

Joseph nodded and fled the body he was occupying. The vampire blinked in confusion a moment right before Buffy plunged a stake in its heart.

"So, how do you like your first vamp patrol?"

"It is... not what I expected," he replied honestly, enunciating more carefully now that he was using his own vocal cords, something he hadn't done for years.

"'Kay. Whaddaya mean by 'talking like this,' anyway?" she asked. "I thought you talked while in other people's bodies all the time?"

"I meant talking about trivial things during a fight."

"What? You've never chatted with the other Titans while you were kicking butt?"

"Not really, no."

"Fine by me," Buffy shrugged, sidling up next to him and linking his arm with hers. "Fight's over now," she said brightly, "so... any hobbies?"

She knew this wasn't exactly the best way to cope with what she'd seen the other night. That being Angel and a woman Buffy didn't recognize acting awfully close.

**Had** she known who the woman was -- the seer vampiress Drusilla -- she probably would've been a tad more alarmed.

* * *

Xander had told Cassie that he was the only one to keep his powers. That wasn't entirely true. Not that he was aware of this.

There was at least one other who kept the powers attained from Halloween.

"3x2(9YZ)4A," she whispered. And was off like a bolt of lightning.

* * *

There had been other changes made in the rewriting of reality as well.

"Hello, there. What did Mom say your name was again? Ted? Well, welcome back, Ted. My name is Warren. And I believe I have a lot to learn from you."

* * *

Timothy Drake, otherwise known as Robin, removed the four microtubes from the PCR machine. He was in what could flippantly be called the "Robincave," a cloning facility he had hidden under Titans' Tower.

For months, he'd been using this facility to try to reclone his best friend, Conner Kent, aka Kon-El, aka Superboy.

Now, though, he was doing something else. He carefully drew up the samples from the microtubes and placed them in the gene sequencer, one sample for each nucleotide.

"All right, Xander. Let's see who and what you really are."

* * *

Author's Postscript:

Anyone have any reading recommendations for Jericho?


	6. Chapter 6

Title: Teen of Steel: Reforged (6/?)

Author: Cyclone

Feedback: Please be gentle.

Distribution: Gimme credit and a link.

Rating: Maybe a little harsh language, certainly some violence, but nothing worse than on BtVS.

Spoilers: Diverges wildly after Halloween for BtVS with possible spoilers up to the season eight comic and pretty much up to current DCU.

Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to other people. I'm just borrowing them for a while.

Summary: YAHF. When a young man comes back from the dead, how will his friends react?

Author's Note: Yeppers. Another bunny that wouldn't leave me alone. I guess I'm about due another barrage of new WIPs.

* * *

Rose Wilson cocked an eyebrow as the little blonde Slayer gushed over the stranger. She shook her head and cut in.

"Rose," she introduced herself. "This is my brother, Joey, and my friends Willow and Xander. And I get the feeling you already know Buffy."

Buffy flushed and babbled, "Oh, my God. I'm so sorry. Guys, this is Ford. Billy Fordham. He's an old friend of mine."

_Point to me,_ Rose thought.

"So we gathered," Xander said, an amused smile on his face.

"Uh, Ford and I went to Hemery together in L.A.," she added. She looked back at him, "And now you're here. For real?"

"Dad got the transfer and boom! He just dragged me outta Hemery and put me down here."

"This is great!" Buffy squealed. "Well, I mean, it's hard, sudden move, all your friends, delicate time, very emotional, but let's talk about me!"

"Maybe we should give the lovebirds some time to catch up," Rose whispered huskily in Xander's ear.

Joey nodded, and Xander chuckled, "Not a bad thought. Let's get outta here." Between them, they were able to discreetly hustle Willow away.

After they were well out of even Buffy's earshot, Willow looked at Xander, "Are you playing matchmaker?"

"Not really," Xander shrugged. "But then again, I would much rather she date Ford than Angel."

"Why?" Willow asked suspiciously. "What does he have that Angel doesn't?"

"You want a list?" Xander asked, shooting her a sidelong glance.

"**Yes**."

He shrugged and began counting off on his fingers, "A pulse, a reflection, body heat, the ability to get a tan without bursting into flames, hair that doesn't qualify as a fire hazard... you sure you wanna hear this?"

Thwap!

"You have to admit, Willow," Rose pointed out, "you **were** asking for it."

Thwap!

"Ow!" Xander whined. "What was **that** for?"

"If I hit Rose, she'll hit me back, so I hit you instead."

"Oy," Xander groaned.

"Oh, knock it off, you big baby," Rose said, punching him in the arm. "It's not like you're actually hurt."

"It's the principle of the matter!"

A snicker intruded and caught their attention. They blinked and looked over to where Joey was stifling a laugh.

* * *

His name was Bart Allen.

He was the fastest man alive.

No. Scratch that. He was the fastest man who was **ever** alive.

He wasn't the first to call himself the Flash, and he had no doubt he wouldn't be the last. The first was Jay Garrick, the original Flash, who still protected the traditional home of the Flash, the twin cities of Keystone and Central City, and served with the Justice Society of America.

After Jay came Barry Allen and Wally West, Bart's grandfather and cousin, respectively. There had been other speedsters before him too, not just Flashes. Max Mercury -- Bart felt his heart ache at the memory of his old mentor -- and Johnny Quick. As was the inevitable fate of all speedsters, all four had since entered the Speed Force.

And as he had recently learned, the Speed Force had entered him.

He was currently in Sunnydale, California because of something he'd felt recently. He wasn't sure exactly, but it felt like someone... like someone had tapped into the Speed Force. Which should have been impossible. Not even Jay could tap into the Speed Force anymore.

"Bart?"

He turned in surprise, "Do I know you, Miss?"

The young woman crossed her arms and cocked an eyebrow at him, "No, but I know you." She pointedly eyed him up and down, "You've grown up."

Bart backed away uncertainly, "And how do you know me?"

"3x2(9YZ)4A," she said evenly. He sucked in a breath as he felt her tap into the Speed Force and watched her race off. He blinked, then scowled and raced after her.

He needed answers.

* * *

"He's a lying sack of shit."

"Oh, come on, Rose," Xander said dryly, slouching back in the booth. "Tell us how you really feel." He leaned over, cue stick in hand, "Three ball, corner pocket."

They were playing some 9-ball in the Bronze. They had all gathered there, including Ford, and Buffy had seen Angel from across the dance floor and made a beeline for him. From there, the gathering was suddenly very awkward, and Ford had dropped the bombshell on them before leaving. Buffy and Willow had left for serious girl talk, leaving the remaining trio -- Xander and the Wilson siblings -- alone at the Bronze.

"Okay," she inclined her head without batting her eye. "He's a lying sack of shit planning to get us all killed."

"Ford's not that bad," Xander snorted. "Okay, a little secretive, but hardly what I'd call proof he's maniacally plotting our deaths like a certain former president on a bad day."

"**Please**," she shot back. "Ford's nowhere near **his** class. But I'm telling you, Xander, he's up to something."

* * *

"Titans, eh?" Spike murmured, looking at the photograph. "She looks... tasty."

* * *

"Uh huh," Xander replied skeptically. He looked over at Joey, "What do you think, bro?"

"I don't like him," the blond shrugged, "but I'd like to keep an open mind."

"Fair enough," Xander said.

"I can't believe you two," Rose scowled. "Can't you **smell** it? He's a rat."

"Well, that's a step up from 'lying sack of shit,'" Xander grinned. "So I'd say we're making progress, eh, Joey?"

She scowled, "Seven ball, side pocket."

Crack!

Smack!

Clack, clack, clack! Thunk.

Xander stared as the cue ball -- which had skipped off the pool table and smacked him in the face -- rebounded back to the table, bounced against the pool table's far boundary, against the end side, and finally knocked the 7 ball into the side pocket in front of him.

"That **sooo** counts as a scratch."

* * *

"Come by tomorrow at sunset," Willow told Angel as she hurried him out of her room. "I'll keep looking."

"Don't tell Buffy what we're doing, all right?" he asked.

"You want me to lie to her?" Willow sputtered. "It's Buffy!"

"Just don't bring it up until we know what's what."

"Okay," she agreed. "I-it's probably nothing.

"That'd be nice."

* * *

"Okay," Xander said as they departed the Sunset Club. "Ford, bestest friend of the Slayer, is hanging with a bunch of vampire wannabes." He glared at Rose, "Don't say it."

She smirked at him wordlessly.

"We have to tell Buffy," Willow said, nodding firmly.

* * *

"This is **so** cool!" Ford gushed. "It's just like it played in my head. You know that part where you ask me what's supposed to happen?" He snickered, "It's already happening."

CLANG!

The inner door slammed shut, and Buffy turned and raced up the stairs to it, trying to open it and pounding on it.

"Rigged up special," Ford said. "Once it's closed, it can only be opened from the outside. As soon as the sun sets, they'll be comin'."

"Ford," Buffy said, "if these people are still around when they get here..."

"We'll be changed," one of the vampire wannabes -- a guy named Diego -- interrupted. "All of us."

"We're going to ascend to a new level of consciousness!" added another, named Chantarelle. "Become like them. Like the Lonely Ones."

"This is the end, Buffy," Ford declared. "No one gets outta here alive."

Suddenly, the door swung open again.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that," Xander said, leaning against the edge of the door frame, arms crossed. "I gotta tell you, though, vampires in this town? Rather short life expectancy. They generally last about five minutes after waking up before getting a pointy piece of wood shoved in their hearts, and most of that time's spent digging themselves out of the ground. You'd have better odds with that tumor of yours."

Rose calmly stepped and said coolly, "Everyone. Out. Now."

"Why should we listen to you?" Chantarelle demanded.

Shing!

"Oh, gee, lemme think," Rose said sarcastically. "Maybe because I'm the pissed off psycho bitch with two really sharp swords here? Do you really wanna be in the same room with me right now?"

Chantarelle shook her head, "You... you wouldn't."

Rose leaned toward her, eye blazing, and said evenly, "I was trained as an assassin, and I carved out my own f---ing eye. What **else** do you suppose I might be capable of?"

Chantarelle blanched.

They may have wanted -- at least from one perspective -- to die, but that desire was contingent on coming back as a vampire. Getting hacked to pieces by a one-eyed madwoman definitely wasn't something they were interested in. They began filing out. Very quickly.

Not that Rose would ever have done something like that. She had far too much skill and finesse to ever have to resort to **hacking** someone to pieces with her swords.

"So," Xander said, "now what happens to your oh-so-flawless plan now, Mister Evil Mastermind?"

* * *

Xander turned to watched the fight. He had dusted his share of minion vampires, and right now, he was checking to see if Buffy needed help with her much larger share. He was still trying to be a bit discreet about his powers -- he had no idea how his friends would react -- but he wasn't about to let Spike get away just to keep it a secret. They had decided to let Ford's little plan play out... except with them as the ambushers.

Right now, the centerpiece of the action was Rose and Spike. The two were dueling one on one in the middle of the battlefield, and so far, neither seemed to be getting the upper hand.

"This is great!" Spike crowed. "Better than any Slayer. Your blood will taste so sweet."

"Hey!" Buffy called as she dusted her last vampire. "I thought you were in town to kill yourself a Slayer, weren't you?"

"Oh, bloody hell," Spike began backing away.

Xander's eyes narrowed as he began focusing his tactile telekinesis to pin Spike in place... and got brained from behind. As he collapsed, Drusilla hauled him up by the shirt and held a razor sharp fingernail to his throat, "Ah, ah, ah! Let my Spike go, now."

* * *

"That was humiliating," Xander muttered sourly as he picked himself up from the ground, rubbing his head. The vampires had made a clean getaway. "I can't believe I got blindsided by that screw-loose vampire."

"Don't worry about it," Buffy said, patting him on the shoulder as she walked past him. "I'm just glad you're all right. I..." she glanced over to where Ford had disappeared, "...I've got to go find Ford."

Xander watched her leave, then looked at Rose, who looked back at him with a raised eyebrow. "What?" she asked.

"You carved it out?" he asked quietly. "To prove your loyalty?"

"I wasn't exactly in my right mind," she replied tightly. "I try not to think about it."

Xander resisted the urge pull her into a hug; she wouldn't appreciate it. Instead, he simply placed a hand on her shoulder, silently offering his support, which she wordlessly accepted, placing her own hand on his.

* * *

"So, see you around?" Willow half-asked hopefully as she released Rose from the bone-crushing hug. They were at Sunnydale Airport, seeing off the Wilson siblings. Rose and Willow were off by themselves, having stepped aside for some privacy.

"Yeah, Red," Rose nodded. "I'll be back. You can count on it. I'm just heading out with Joey to see some of his old friends in New York, that's all." She paused and looked away, "This was my stop. Next up is his."

"Are you blushing?" Willow frowned.

"I am **not**," Rose glowered at her. "You remember what I said, okay? About Xander."

"A-all right," Willow shrank back, blushing.

Rose held up a finger, "Six months."

* * *

Author's Postscript:

This was a weird little chapter. It wasn't in my original plot outline, but it sort of emerged on its own. If anyone actually thought I was referencing a real president, shame on you. They were talking about former President Luthor.

Oh, and if you enjoy this story, you absolutely **must** read Cobra's Journey of a Hero.

We're doing a crossover in his 'fic. Seriously, check it out. 'Cause that's going to be in-continuity.

Okay, one additional note here, since I've gotten two reviews over Twisting the Hellmouth mentioning this (apparently from people who didn't bother to actually **read** the story, since this was a key point I've brought up before). Xander does **not** -- repeat **not** -- have the full Kryptonian powers! He **only** has Superboy's tactile telekinesis (and super-hearing coming in and out)! So when Dru caught him by surprise, his TTK (which requires him to concentrate to keep up) did not protect him, so he was just as vulnerable as any human.


	7. Chapter 7

Title: Teen of Steel: Reforged (7/?)

Author: Cyclone

Feedback: Please be gentle.

Distribution: Gimme credit and a link.

Rating: Maybe a little harsh language, certainly some violence, but nothing worse than on BtVS.

Spoilers: Diverges wildly after Halloween for BtVS with possible spoilers up to the season eight comic and pretty much up to current DCU.

Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to other people. I'm just borrowing them for a while.

Summary: YAHF. When a young man comes back from the dead, how will his friends react?

Author's Note: Yeppers. Another bunny that wouldn't leave me alone. I guess I'm about due another barrage of new WIPs.

* * *

Buffy frowned as the vampire crumbled to dust. It was just another night of patrol, and she had been trying to put the incident with Ford out of her mind; she hadn't been able to track him down after their failed attempt to ambush Spike.

"I don't get it," she said, turning to her two best buds.

"Get what, Buffy?" Xander asked as he and Willow walked up.

"The vampires," she said, gesturing vaguely in the direction of where the last vampire she'd dusted had crumbled to dust. "I thought for sure he'd get away."

"So?" Willow asked.

"So," Buffy said, "that's the eighth time tonight a vampire tripped over its own two feet. I don't get it."

Xander swallowed quietly.

"Hi, there."

They froze. They turned. They looked up.

"Supergirl?" Willow squeaked.

"You seriously need a longer skirt."

"Says you, Buff," Xander retorted. "What are you doing here, Kara?"

"Oh," Buffy said mockingly, "it's 'Kara,' is it? I didn't know you were so close."

"I'm looking for you, actually," Supergirl said, landing gently on the ground in front of Xander.

"Xander," Willow said, her voice eerily calm, "what is it with you and superpowered blondes?"

"Uh, well, uh..."

She fainted, and Xander moved to catch her.

"I wish she would stop doing that," Buffy complained.

"Didn't you faint with her when Wonder Girl showed up?" Xander asked. "At least, that's what I heard."

Buffy blushed.

"Could you take Will home, Buff? I have a feeling this is important."

"Are you sure? I mean, I can hold her while you two-"

"While you eavesdrop with your better than average hearing. Yeah, not happening."

"Oh, come on, Xander," Buffy whined. "You really think I'm that much of a gossip that I'd do something like that?"

"In a heartbeat."

Buffy pouted.

Xander handed Willow's limp form to her, and she took hold of the redhead and walked off in a huff.

She paused and looked over her shoulder at Supergirl, "Oh, and I was serious, by the way. You so need a longer skirt."

Xander looked back at Supergirl... and they took the sky.

Once they were comfortably above cloud level, Supergirl asked, "So... girlfriend?"

"Huh?" Xander blinked.

"The blonde," she clarified.

"You mean Buffy?" he sputtered, then chuckled. "No, she's not my girlfriend."

"Ex?"

"Uh, no."

"Really?" she blinked, surprised. "I could practically see the jealousy rolling off of her."

"What, you've got emote-a-vision too?" he snorted. "Relax. She's just kinda protective of me, just like Will. Or possessive, take your pick. How've you been, Kara? And please remember, all I know about you lately's from the newspapers."

"I've been..." she looked away, "...dealing. Robin told me about you, about your situation."

"I'm sure he did," Xander said flatly. "But you were saying?"

"I guess I'm still having trouble adapting to life on Earth."

"Yeah, I can understand that," he said. "From what I know, Krypton was pretty advanced. You must feel like you're living in the stone age now."

"It's not the technology, Kon- oh, I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean..."

"Don't worry about it," he said quietly. "But please, call me Xander."

"I'm sorry, Xander," she sighed. "It's just... I never spent much time with him before..."

"I know. I've got his memories, remember? Uh, Robin did tell you that part, right?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "I really wasn't going to stop by. Sure, Robin mentioned you might be on the hit list too, but... I guess I feel bad for not spending any time with him. I mean, he was family, in a way."

"He was a half-clone of your cousin, Kara. I guess that made you two cousins."

"I suppose. But what does that make us?"

"How about we start with 'friends' and go from there?"

She looked up and smiled, "I'd like that."

"Now, what's this about a hit list?"

"The League of Assassins has been attacking me for a while now," she said. "I sort of, ah, ran into Robin while trying to track them down."

"Translation: You tried to hijack the Batcomputer or shake someone down in Gotham or something like that, and he caught you out."

"Anyway, he suggested I bring you along as backup."

"Uh huh," Xander nodded slowly. "That's... a surprise."

"Why's that?"

"He doesn't trust me," he shrugged. "Not that I blame him, all things considered. I'm an unknown, and if there's one thing about the Bat clan, it's that they don't trust unknowns. Hell, the Bat himself's probably prowling around Sunnydale as we speak."

* * *

Among the many shadows of Sunnydale, a discreet distance behind the burdened Slayer, Batman's nose twitched as he suppressed a sneeze.

* * *

"So, you've got a location, then?"

"Yeah," Supergirl replied. "They're probably waiting for me."

Xander gave her a lop-sided smile, "But they're probably not waiting for me."

She smiled back, "So, I go in..."

"...and then I bail you out if it gets nasty."

"That's the plan."

"Short and sweet," he said. "Just the way I like 'em."

"Talking about the plan?" she teased. "Or me?"

"Hey, you're taller than Buffy," he retorted, "and from what I've seen, you're far too... interesting to be 'sweet.'"

* * *

Down below, Buffy got the strangest feeling... like she was being followed...

She turned, "Hey! Who's there? Angel?"

She saw nothing.

"Xander? This isn't funny."

Silence.

"Huh, must've been my imagination. Could've sworn..."

* * *

"Can I assume the whole thing's lead-shielded?" Xander asked.

They were standing in front of the League of Assassins headquarters Kara had located with Robin's assistance. It was built into the wall of a narrow canyon, and Xander had lost track of where exactly they were.

Not that it really mattered, he supposed.

"You're asking me?" she looked over at him. "Don't you have X-ray vision?"

"Nope," he shook his head. "I've got old-school Superboy powers. Tactile telekinesis."

"Oh," she nodded, "and yeah, it's lead-shielded."

"Figures," he said. "You ready?"

"To charge headlong into an ambush designed to kill me?" Kara asked back. She grinned. "Always." She turned and flew through the massive doors, smashing her way in... and stumbling to a halt in a coughing fit.

"What the hell...?" she coughed.

"For every kill, there is a weapon," came a voice from above her. "Diamond dust, red wavelength UVB lights... and me."

She descended like an angel of death, swinging a pair of glowing red swords down at Kara, who barely caught one and avoided the other. It was Cassandra Cain, and she was dressed in her old Batgirl costume.

"Why are you doing this?!" Kara demanded as she fired off a blast of heat vision that barely nicked the former Batgirl's cape. She hit the floor again as Cassandra swept her legs out from under her.

"What's with the costume? That supposed to psych me out or something? 'The road not taken' and all that?" Kara asked, leaping off the ground to avoid another sword stroke.

Cassandra said nothing.

"Fine. I'll make you talk," Kara decided, kicking the other girl and sending her flying. She flew after her, suddenly realizing that the wall she had sent Cassandra toward was riddled with long spikes.

That didn't seem to bother the martial artist, as she landed between the spikes, sprang off the wall, and lashed out with one of her swords at Kara as the Kryptonian barely kept herself from impaling herself.

"Okay... this isn't fun anymore..." she said, trying to blink her eyes clear, but the diamond dust was persistent. "What do you want?!"

"Guess this means... you do care..." came a weak voice from above, "...warms my heart, really."

Kara looked up in surprise, "Boomer?! What are you...?"

It was Owen Mercer, the new Captain Boomerang and member of the Outsiders. And he was a real mess. The League -- or maybe it was just Cassandra, Kara didn't know or care -- had worked him over pretty well, and now, he was hanging suspended from the ceiling by chains and a pole.

"You... you didn't come here for me?" he asked. "But I called... I called..."

"Boomer, I... I'm here now. I..."

"Comin' through!" Xander roared as he charged, tackling her away from Owen.

"What...?"

Xander got up and offered her a hand up, "Sorry for butting in like this, but I didn't think you wanted to get gutted by the Batchick."

"Huh?" she looked over at where Cassandra crouched, one of her red sun blades shattered. "What happened?"

"She was about to slice you open is what happened," Xander said. "But her blade broke on my TTK field." He glared at Cassandra and squared his feet. "I'm holding her in place with my TTK now. She can't move from where she's standing, so get Boomerang down from there and get out of here, Kara."

"But-"

"Now!"

Kara nodded and flew toward where Owen was dangling.

"Tactile telekinesis?" Cassandra said with a frown. "You cannot hold me here forever, and you cannot hold me and escape. When I am free, I will kill you."

"Maybe," he said, "then again, maybe not. You came prepared for her, lady, not me, and either way you slice it, she'll be long gone by time that happens. You've failed."

Stall, stall, stall... he thought as he caught Kara helping Captain Boomerang out the door.

"Not if I can break your concentration," Cassandra said, hurling a handful of shuriken at him.

Xander smirked as his TTK field repelled the attack just as easily as it had repelled her red sun sword. "It'll take more than that to break my concentration."

The martial artist's eyes narrowed as she studied him. He was an unknown, but his use of tactile telekinesis indicated some sort of connection with the late Superboy. Now, what could distract...?

"Very well," she said... and pulled off her shirt.

"Ack."

Crunch!

His mind drifted back to another memory, of a cruise, a bikini, and a crazy date-gone-wrong in Kansas and what he -- no, what Conner -- had been thinking of at the time, and as his mind drifted, his concentration shattered. Free of the TTK pinning her in place, Cassandra lunged toward him and brought her knee up into his face, smashing his nose and knocking him to the ground. Her hand shot out, going for a throat shot, but Xander managed to get his mind off the... bouncing... long enough to roll out of the way and get to his feet.

"Oh, come on," he said, "you're far from the first pretty lady to flash me some skin and try to kill me... and man, how sad is that? Whoa!"

He scrambled back as she pressed her attack.

Wham!

Xander blinked, looked down at the fallen assassin, then looked up. Kara smiled, "Now, aren't you glad I came back?"

"Believe me, I'm not complaining," he said, picking up Cassandra's remaining sun blade and powering it off. "Hmm, this could be useful."

"Let's get out of here," she said.

"How's Boomerang?" he asked as they left the building and took to the skies.

"I got him to a hospital," she said. "I just hope he'll be all right."

"Y'know, we make a pretty good team," Xander said.

"Yeah, I'll say," Kara nodded.

They continued to fly, drifting closer together, spiralling around each other through the air. A long moment passed as they flew facing each other, inches apart. They leaned toward each other, and their lips met. As the kiss continued, they slowed and righted themselves, until they were simply hovering in the sky.

After a long moment, they pulled away from each other.

"We shouldn't have done that," he said.

"You're right," she agreed. "We shouldn't have."

"I couldn't agree more."

"Huh?" Xander turned...

WHAM!

...only to get punched in the face hard enough to dent steel.

* * *

Author's Postscript:

Poor Xander. His nose is really taking a beating tonight.

And unlike when he got surprised by Dru, his TTK field is up, since he was flying.


	8. Chapter 8

Title: Teen of Steel: Reforged (8/?) 

Author: Cyclone

Feedback: Please be gentle.

Distribution: Gimme credit and a link.

Rating: Maybe a little harsh language, certainly some violence, but nothing worse than on BtVS.

Spoilers: Diverges wildly after Halloween for BtVS with possible spoilers up to the season eight comic and pretty much up to current DCU.

Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to other people. I'm just borrowing them for a while.

Summary: YAHF. When a young man comes back from the dead, how will his friends react?

Author's Note: Yeppers. Another bunny that wouldn't leave me alone. I guess I'm about due another barrage of new WIPs.

* * *

WHAM!

_And today started off so well too,_ Xander mused as he flew through the air from the impact.

As the black-clad young man pressed the attack, Xander could not regain his balance... so he stopped trying. Instead, he kept his TTK field up and simply rode out the blows, hoping to get some distance.

Aside from some bruises and that nasty crack to his face -- again in one night! -- he wasn't really being hurt much, so he could afford it. As he stabilized himself, he heard Supergirl call out.

"Power Boy, stop!"

Xander turned and stared at her, "You **know** this dickweed, Kara?"

"He's, uh," she stammered, "he's my boyfriend"

"'**Boyfriend**'?" Xander sputtered. "And you were gonna mention him **when**?"

WHAM!

"I said, 'stop!'" Kara lunged and grabbed Power Boy by the arm. The Apokoliptian native backhanded her and charged toward Xander, firing off energy blasts.

"Yow!" Xander yelped as one of Power Boy's energy blasts nearly turned him into a cinder. "Okay, that's it!" he snarled. "Kid gloves are off now! I'm gonna-!"

WHAM!

Xander blinked as a red and blue blur slammed into Power Boy, sending them both crashing into the ground. He floated gently down to where Kara was pounding the ever living daylights out of Power Boy.

"...don't hit the ones you love!" she ranted.

He tapped her on the shoulder, "Ah, Kara?"

She turned and glared at him, "**What?**"

"Would you mind, um, stopping for a moment?" he asked.

"He attacked you," she said. "He attacked me. And you're protecting him?"

"Nooo," he shook his head. "I just want to get my shots in."

"Oh," her eyes widened in understanding. She stepped aside, "Be my guest."

"Thanks," he said, reaching down and picking up Power Boy by the shirt. "Now, we need to talk about limits, pal. There are certain things you just don't do."

WHAM!

"Chief among them is hurt people I care about," Xander said, removing his knee from Power Boy's crotch. He paused, then looked over at Kara, "Ah, I hope you didn't have plans for that."

"Just one," she said coldly, then walked up...

WHAM!

...and mirrored Xander's actions.

Xander winced.

Supergirl turned to him and clasped her hands behind his neck. Leaning forward, she said, "Sorry you had to see that. Now, where were we?"

"I think," he murmured, tilting his head down, "we were just deciding that this was a really bad idea."

"Oh, really?" she purred, tilting her head back.

He pulled back just before their lips met again and instead planted a kiss on on her forehead, "Yeah, really. My head's pretty screwed up right now, Kara. I don't want to hurt you."

"You really think that excuse is gonna fly?"

"If it weren't true, I'd be with Cassie," he said bluntly.

"Hell of a thing to say to avoid hurting me," she scowled, pulling away. He blinked in surprise, and she sighed, "Okay, yeah, that was low. It's just... we work so well together. We get along. We... mesh. And I just found out Power Boy's a dickhead. You have no idea how **alone** I feel here."

"You don't think so?" he cocked his head to the side. He tapped his temple, "I've got Kon's memories, Kara, all of them. Friends, family, a lover... his whole **life**, short as it was, is in my head now, a life I can see, but can't touch." He looked away, "And then there are my friends. Buff, Will... they're acting different around me now. I'm not... who I used to be, and that scares them. It kinda scares me."

"You're not Kon."

"I know," he shrugged. "But where do I end, and where does he start? How much of me is **me**... and how much is just a cheap copy of him?" He looked back at her and met her gaze, "So, yeah, I'd say I've got a pretty good idea how it feels to be trapped between two worlds."

"I guess you do," she said simply. "So, what now?"

"Now?" Xander cocked his head. "You go visit Boomerang, and I go home. But if you ever need to talk..."

"I know where to find you," she finished. "Well, take care... Superboy."

She flew off.

"I **so** need a cold shower," he muttered.

Not all that far away, Kara smirked.

"First Batgirl, now Supergirl," he continued, shaking his head. "One helluva night."

Not all that far away, Kara's smirk faded into a frown.

* * *

"Ah, joy," Xander said as he and his best buds walked toward Sunnydale High's front doors. "Career Week. I wonder what it'll say about me?"

"What do you mean?" Willow asked with a frown.

"I've got two people in my head, Will," he pointed out. "I'm really kinda curious what this will say about me. Or us, as the case may be."

"That's... deep," Buffy said, vaguely depressed.

"What about you, Buff?" Xander asked. "Aren't you curious?"

"With my life expectancy?" she shot back. "I got a year, two at the most."

"Aw, come on," Xander said, giving her a friendly pat on the back. "You're a superhero, Buffy. **Batman** takes on world-ending threats without any superpowers."

"Yeah, but Batman also doesn't have to worry about high school, Slaying... mom..." her voice dropped, "...and he doesn't actually care about having anything resembling a real life."

Xander gave her an odd look, then shrugged it off, "Whatever. You'll be fine, Buff. Look to the future. You're like, the leader of a super-team. You've even got us, your very own sidekicks, right, Will?"

Willow didn't respond. He looked over at the redhead and recognized the deep thought on her face, "Will?"

"Hmm?" she blinked and looked up. "Yeah, Xander?"

"What's up?"

She shook her head, "Oh, nothing. Hey, Buffy, can I borrow some hair dye?"

Xander and Buffy both blinked at her, speaking as one, "Huh?"

"Oh, never mind," she said, walking off. It probably wouldn't work anyway. She'd need superpowers too.

They stood and watched her stalk off, both baffled by her strange behavior.

Xander broke the silence, "So, why do I get the strange feeling she's pissed at me for some reason?"

"Because she usually is?"

"Thanks, Buffy," he grumbled. "I can really feel the love here. So, what's new with you?"

"Well, I ran into a couple of vampires engaged in some B-an'-E last night."

"'B-an'-E'?" Xander blinked at her blankly.

"Breaking and entering," she shrugged. "They broke into a mausoleum. Dusted one, the other got away with the goods, and Giles had a major cow about it."

"You sure he wasn't just being overly British about it?"

"No," she shook her head. "He was definitely upset. In that quiet, looming, disappointed kinda way. Just like-..." she broke off abruptly.

"Just like who?"

"Never mind."

* * *

"What about the Slayer?" Dalton asked. "She almost blew the whole thing for us. She's trouble."

"You **don't** say?" Spike glared at Dalton before rising to his feet. "'Trouble'?!" he spat, pacing. "She's the gnat in my ear! The gristle in my teeth! She's the bloody thorn in my BLOODY SIDE!"

In a fit of rage, he kicked the table.

"Spike?" Drusilla murmured, concerned.

"We gotta do something," Spike said. "We'll never complete your cure with that **bitch** breathing down our necks. I need to bring in the big guns. They'll take care of her once and for all."

"Big guns?" Dalton asked.

Spike smiled sinisterly.

* * *

"Human resources coordinator?" Xander stared at the sign on the wall. "What the heck is a 'human resource coordinator'?"

"It's a recruiter," Willow explained dejectedly.

"Oh," Xander nodded. "So, why didn't they just say so?" He looked over at Will, "Aw, c'mon, Will, I'm sure there's a very good reason you weren't on the board. Maybe some big company's already got their eye on you and that's why your name's not up there?"

"Thanks, Xander, but that's kind of unrealistic," she said. "What kind of big company would look to **Sunnydale High** for fresh recruits?"

"Miss Rosenberg?" a voice broke in.

Willow looked up, "Huh? Who are you?"

The man smiled and extended a hand, "Hello, Miss Rosenberg. I'm Alan McCarthy with K.O.R.D. Industries. I'd like to talk to you about career opportunities with us after you graduate."

"See?" Xander grinned. "Trust in the Xander, for the Xander is goo-oof!"

Willow extracted her elbow from Xander's gut and followed Mr. McCarthy.

* * *

A lone figure crept into the rundown hotel room with a skill and grace honed over a century. He rounded the corner and found the man he was searching for. He stood there, barechested, toweling his hair off.

"William the Bloody," he said quietly. "You found me."

"Wasn't easy," Spike replied, stepping out of the shadows and dropping all pretense at stealth. "You're a hard man to find... Deathstroke the Terminator. Gotta admit. You've got a nice flair, to pick a name like that.

"It wasn't easy because I didn't **want** to be found," Deathstroke said coolly, putting the towel down and pulling on a shirt. "Not smart. That was your second mistake."

"Second, huh?" Spike asked, his eyebrows rising. "What was my first?"

Deathstroke picked up his sword, "Trying to eat my daughter and thinking I wouldn't find out."

Shing!

"Bloody hell!" Spike swore, turning and running.

* * *

Author's Postscript:

Merry Christmas!

The DCU has quite a selection of assassins, certainly far better than the Order of Taraka. Too bad for Spike he wouldn't settle for anyone less than the best.

Oh, yes. I'm compressing the time frame of certain events in Buffy, along with stretching out some things in Teen Titans just a little bit. Next chapter, Titans East. With all that that entails.


	9. Chapter 9

Title: Teen of Steel: Reforged (9/?) 

Author: Cyclone

Feedback: Please be gentle.

Distribution: Gimme credit and a link.

Rating: Maybe a little harsh language, certainly some violence, but nothing worse than on BtVS.

Spoilers: Diverges wildly after Halloween for BtVS with possible spoilers up to the season eight comic and pretty much up to current DCU.

Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to other people. I'm just borrowing them for a while.

Summary: YAHF. When a young man comes back from the dead, how will his friends react?

Author's Note: Familiarity with the events of Titans East is highly recommended before reading this.

* * *

"**No!** No, no, **NO!** It's not **fair!** You're not Conner! You're **Match! ** You're a failed **clone!**"

Xander's head bolted upright, and he murmured under his breath, "Cassie?"

Buffy looked over at him, "Xander? What is it?"

"I... I have to go," he said, rising to his feet and heading for the back entrance of the library.

"Wait!" Buffy called. "What's going on?"

"Ca- the Titans are in trouble," Xander said. "I have to help them, Buffy."

"Then take me with you," she said seriously. "You can fly us both there."

Xander blinked, "What?"

"C'mon, Xander," she said. "I'm blonde, but I'm not stupid. I had a hunch you kept his powers when all those vampires kept tripping over themselves, and this just cinches it. Super-hearing, huh? Please, Xander, I have to help too."

"This isn't your fight, Buffy."

"You called me a superhero, Xander," she smiled at him. "What kind of superhero doesn't help out her sidekick when he needs it?" Her smile dropped slightly, "Besides, I have my own reasons to help out."

Xander shot her a quizzical look, then shrugged it off. It was obvious he'd lost this fight, and they were running out of time.

"Hold on. We'll make a stop on the way."

* * *

"Slade's been poisoning your **mind**, Cassandra," Robin said, hoping to get through to Cassandra Cain... better known as Batgirl. "He's been pumping you full of the same serum that drove Ravager insane."

"I'm not insane," Batgirl said, raising the syringe, "I'm thinking clearly. You will too, Tim."

Crash!

"Nice party, but a little kinky for my tastes. Hope you don't mind if I crash."

They turned as one and saw a short, masked blonde standing at the remains of the door leading into the room. Behind her cowl, Batgirl's eyes narrowed, and she carefully put the syringe down before charging the interloper. Meanwhile, Robin began working furiously to get himself free. Whoever the blonde was, she didn't stand a chance against Batgirl.

* * *

CRASH!

Wonder Girl turned in surprise as a humanoid meteor smashed into the room through the wall and smashed into Match.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!"

"Conner?" she whispered, not quite daring to hope.

"I told you," he said quietly, turning to look at her. "I'm not Conner."

"Look out!"

Xander turned and barely caught Match's hands, barely holding him back, "Cassie, get out of here! Help the others!"

"But... he's stronger than you!"

Xander let go and ducked under Match's clumsy blow, "You say that as if it's something new. Trust me. I got this. Now go!"

* * *

Elsewhere throughout the false Titans' Tower erected in New York in mockery of the real one in San Francisco, the other Teen Titans dealt with their own demons... in one case, literally, as Kid Crusader moved to kill Kid Devil after banishing the demonic influence on him, but a misstep on his part shifted the demon into him.

Meanwhile, Raven's offer of friendship turned Joker's Daughter against her erstwhile teammates, and not much later, she forced Risk to confront his feelings, freeing Cyborg.

In yet another room, brother and sister confronted their father as Deathstroke moved to "test" his children: Jericho and Ravager.

* * *

Batgirl frowned. The blonde was putting up a surprisingly good fight, actually able to score a few glancing blows that hurt nearly as much as a full force punch.

Metahuman, obviously. She'd dealt with metahumans before.

Except... there was something else to it as well, something she... recognized. She couldn't quite place it, but there was something about the blonde that tugged at her memory, something naggingly familiar...

Suddenly, eyes widening beneath her mask, she placed it.

And she hesitated.

WHAM!

And she got punched in the face.

Robin suppressed a wince and withdrew something from his belt. "Wait!" he called as he headed over. "Don't hurt her!"

The blonde looked up at him incredulously, "What? But she-!"

"She's on our side," he said, crouching over Batgirl's prone form, syringe in hand.

"So... what? That was just kinky foreplay, then?" the blonde scowled.

"Deathstroke pumped her full of a serum that drove her insane," he plunged the syringe into Batgirl and injected its contents. "I just gave her the counter-serum."

"Oh," the blonde said. "Well, then, I guess we'll all just play nice now. I'm Buffy."

"Robin."

"**Obviously**."

WHAM!

Buffy rolled with the punch, "I thought you said she was cured?!"

"I am," Batgirl said, rising to her feet. "Just getting even. Cheap shot, S-"

"**Don't** call me that," Buffy snarled and stalked off. "C'mon, we've got to help the others."

Robin looked between the two girls, "Did I miss something?"

"Yes," Batgirl answered, walking after Buffy.

* * *

Xander held Match over his head and brought him crashing down on his knee.

CRACK!

Panting, he let Match's form roll off and hit the floor. "Definitely... **not**... looking... forward to... a re-Match," he punned as he scrambled out of Match's reach. The clone's back was obviously broken, but that didn't mean he wasn't dangerous.

But for now, it seemed, Match would be down long enough for him to find the others. His legs a little wobbly, he staggered for the exit... then he heard the shriek.

It wasn't a shriek of fear. It wasn't a shriek of anger. It was a shriek of pain.

He charged down the hallway, following that sound to wherever it would lead him.

* * *

"MEGAN!"

Sungirl looked up in surprise, just before a fist landed on her jaw. She blinked and looked up in surprise. "Super... boy?" she managed, spying the unmistakeable shield on his T-shirt.

"Don't worry, Sungirl," Inertia said flippantly. "That's not Superboy. I'll take care of him."

The green-clad speedster charged the intruder... and suddenly found his feet stuck to the floor. The young man picked him up by the throat.

"You're not Superboy," Inertia insisted. "You **can't** be Superboy! Superboy's **dead!**"

"You're right," he said quietly. "I'm not Superboy. Superboy wouldn't do this." With that, he calmly reached down with one hand and grabbed Inertia's knee... and squeezed.

"ARRRGGGHHH!" Inertia howled. "What did... what did you...?"

"I just crushed your knee. Oh, it'll heal, but it won't heal correctly. Before you can properly walk again, let alone run, it'll have to be broken and rebroken again and again until it's properly set. Same thing that happened to Bart a while back, really, except without the shotgun. And your boss was the one responsible then. Gotta appreciate the irony. Bart learned a lot from that. Maybe you'll learn something too." He threw the speedster aside and turned his attention back to Sungirl...

FWOOSH!

...only to get a faceful of solar energy. He stumbled back from her fiery onslaught, and she advanced, grinning. Eventually, she eased off the onslaught and was surprised to see him still intact on the other side, rather than a charred corpse.

He tilted his head to the side, "Sungirl, huh?"

"That's right," she said warily.

"Pardon the pun, but... you're not very bright, are you?" he asked conversationally. "I mean," he tapped his chest, "it's a well-known fact that this S might as well stand for 'solar-powered,' and you hit me with solar radiation? Thanks, by the way. You just gave my Kryptonian powers one hell of a jump-start." He inhaled sharply...

Whoosh!

...and froze her solid.

Panting, he turned to where Miss Martian -- Megan -- was chained up. For a fraction of a second, he considered just zapping her restraints with heat vision... then decided that now really wasn't the time to start experimenting. He walked up, used his TTK to rip the chains apart, and caught Megan's slumping form in his arms.

"Hey, there, Martian girl," he said tenderly. "How you feeling?"

"I've been better," she replied.

"I'm sure you have," he said. "Now, it's time we finish this."

"How?" she looked at him curiously.

"Go straight to the source."

* * *

"Deathstroke the Terminator."

He looked up at the sound of his name. It **sounded** like Match -- or Superboy, take your pick -- but Match had degenerated to the point where calling him by his full name would have been a challenge for him.

No, it wasn't Match. It was Superboy. A **new** Superboy, apparently.

"We've taken care of the rest of your playmates, Slade," Superboy said. "It's over."

"Who are you?" Deathstroke asked mildly as he noted Robin, Batgirl, and some unknown blonde step out behind him and the Martian.

"Superboy," came the calm reply. "You've been messing with the Teen Titans for years. Well, new players, new rules. Here on out, you leave the Titans in peace... or you'll leave in pieces."

"You haven't got the nerve."

"Why don't you ask Match, Sungirl, and Inertia how much nerve I've got?" Superboy asked, stepping aside and revealing what was behind him. Match was lying on the ground, feebling dragging himself toward Superboy, his legs obviously paralyzed. Inertia was also on the ground, clutching his knee. Sungirl stood in a frozen block of ice. "You don't hurt my friends, Deathstroke," he said bluntly. "Or you'll **wish** I'd killed you. And that definitely includes Rose."

"I'm impressed," Deathstroke admitted.

"Enough to go quietly?" Superboy asked.

"No," Deathstroke shook his head. "But enough to walk away."

He threw a grenade.

Xander reacted on reflex, heat vision lashing out at the grenade, detonating it in mid-air... and unleashing its specially-designed payload into the air. He coughed and sputtered and hit the ground, curling up into a fetal position.

"What... the hell...? Kryptonite...?"

* * *

Deathstroke eased into his hideaway and reviewed what he'd done. The new Superboy had been an unexpected wrinkle. That grenade he had used at the end was a bit of a waste. It had cost fourteen million dollars and eight lives and was designed to stop the Justice League of America, not the Teen Titans... and certainly not a single Teen of Steel.

_But... it was worth it. I know for a **fact** now the Titans will take good care of my children. Though they'll never know it, I've given them a final gift of love, the one thing I could **never** provide them with myself... a **real **family._

* * *

"Xander."

"What is it, Tim?" Xander looked over at him. They were still recovering from the fight, and there was a definite tension in the air, particularly around the two Sunnydalers.

"I ran some tests," Robin replied. "I think you'll find the results interesting." He pulled disk out of his utility belt and handed it to him.

Xander accepted the disk and slipped it in his pocket, "Highlights?"

"You aren't upset?" Robin asked, surprised.

"I'm a threat to the integrity of the team," Xander replied. "I'd be disappointed if you hadn't looked into my background. I just wish you'd at least been polite enough to ask before running a genetic profile, but I guess some things never change."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"He didn't **want** to know, Robin. You broke his trust, and you don't even seem to understand how much that hurt him."

Robin glowered, "What are you insinuating?"

Xander slowly turned to look at him and said, "I'm not insinuating anything, Robin. I'm not upset. Really, I'm not. I'm glad you take the team's security this seriously. I just would've preferred you ask first, that's all. No big."

"I was talking about Conner."

"He asked you something when you first told him the test results, Robin. Looking back on it now, ask yourself that question again: Did knowing about it change anything for the better?" He shook his head, "Look, Robin, I'll give this Teen Titans weekend thing anoth- a try, but I'm reserving the right to cancel if we get an apocalypse back home, all right?"

Xander turned and jogged over to Buffy, "So, ready to go home?"

"Do we have to?" she pouted.

"Uh, well, I suppose not," Xander said, bewildered, "but I figure it beats shacking up in this freaky Tower."

She thumped him on the arm, "That's not what I meant, Xander. I mean, we're in New York. I was hoping we could stick around for a while, take in the sights for a few hours. Pleeease?"

* * *

Author's Postscript:

Been preparing for this for a while now. Had to do some cuts here and there to keep the size manageable and to keep from just ripping off the comic.

Where is Spike, you ask? After all, last we saw Deathstroke, he was chasing after Spike with a sword.

Well...


	10. Chapter 10

Title: Teen of Steel: Reforged (10/?)

Author: Cyclone

Feedback: Please be gentle.

Distribution: Gimme credit and a link.

Rating: Maybe a little harsh language, certainly some violence, but nothing worse than on BtVS.

Spoilers: Diverges wildly after Halloween for BtVS with possible spoilers up to the season eight comic and pretty much up to current DCU. Oh, and also spoilers for Cobra's JOH: Hypertime fanfic.

Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to other people. I'm just borrowing them for a while.

Summary: YAHF. When a young man comes back from the dead, how will his friends react?

Author's Note: Something needs to be said here. Certain events in BtVS canon have occurred with effectively no change, but some others have been so completely derailed because of events in Reforged that the characters (well, except Dawn) wouldn't notice it as anything more than an unusually calm week. A prime example of the latter would be the entire Judge/Angelus thing, since Spike made the mistake of trying to hire Deathstroke. Just FYI.

* * *

"It's not **fair!**" Buffy whined as the pair threaded through Manhattan's crowds.

"Oh, come on, Buffy," Xander snorted. "This is New York City. What on Earth made you think we could afford anything **here**?"

Xander was silently wishing that Buffy **did** have the funds to buy whatever she wanted. Being a human pack mule wasn't so bad compared to putting up with the whining.

"Xander? Buffy?"

He froze, his ears perking up at the sound of their names. It was only a soft, shocked whisper; it would have been too soft for him to hear if it weren't for his super-hearing. He swept his eyes across the crowd, looking, searching, and his gaze locked onto one face that he almost didn't recognize...

"Xander?"

Buffy's voice distracted him, and he turned to look at her, "Huh?"

"What's wrong?" she asked. "You zoned out for a minute there."

"Nothing," Xander replied, shaking his head, even as he listened for that voice and scanned the crowd again.

* * *

At a bar in a club called Warriors, Kyle Rayner sipped at his coffee as he doodled in his sketchpad, thinking furiously about who he had seen earlier. It had almost looked like Xander had **heard** him... which, of course, wasn't possible. He was human, not...

"That's an amazing likeness, don't you agree, Buffy?"

Kyle jerked in surprise and looked over his shoulder. And saw Buffy and Xander standing there, arms crossed, suspicious looks on their faces.

He glanced at his sketchpad, which showed a half-finished sketch of a Green Lantern, the Green Lantern of Sector 2814 to be precise... of **his** world, that is, a Green Lantern known as Warrior.

Also known as Xander Harris.

_Crap._

Xander cocked his head, "A Green Lantern, huh? I'm flattered. But doesn't that, like, take willpower?"

"Sooo, how are things between you and Cassie?" Buffy asked off-handedly as they took the seats flanking Kyle.

Xander winced, "Okay. Point. And how did you know about that, anyway?" He glared at her.

"With the way she went ballistic when I convinced you into staying here for a while?" she snorted. "Get real. I'm a girl, remember? We know these things."

"As if I could ever forget," he shook his head and looked back at Kyle. "So, Kyle, I'm kinda surprised you know me. I mean, I know how I know you, but we've never actually met."

Kyle frowned. How would Xander know him here if they hadn't met?

"And how would that be?" he asked carefully.

"Borrowed memories," Xander replied quietly, looking down at the countertop, "from a young punk who once thought he could fill the biggest shoes in the world."

Something about the intensity in Xander's voice and posture struck Kyle, and abruptly, he knew who he was talking about. It was just a hunch, but somehow, he knew he was right.

"So, Kyle -- or I guess it's Ion now -- what's the story?" Xander asked mildly, looking back over at him.

Kyle blew out a sigh, "Well, I'm not exactly from around here..."

* * *

"Nothing, nothing, and more nothing!" Dawn snarled, slamming the ancient tome shut in frustration.

"Dawn, please be careful with the books," Giles said, at the very edge of his patience. "They're very old, very rare-"

"And very useless!" she snapped, rising to her feet and glaring at him. "Don't treat me like a kid, Giles. I may look like I'm eleven, but I'm still twenty-six, with a dual Masters in Archaeology and Linguistics."

That, of course, simply underscored the... oddity... of the situation. Dawn's claims had been... highly irregular. But she had demonstrated not only an unusually extensive knowledge of demonic culture and ancient languages but also a disturbingly intimate knowledge of his rebellious youth.

"Well, what would you have me do?" Giles glowered. "These books are all I have, you don't trust the Council, and it's not like I have the Shadowpact on speed-dial!"

Dawn shot him a flat stare and deadpanned, "You know what speed-dial is? I'm impressed." She began to pace in irritation, "Damn it, Giles! We've been at this for over a week! We've stopped **apocalypses** in less time than that! I'm going crazy! I just want **off** of this screwy world!"

As if on cue, a green portal opened beneath her feet, and she tumbled through. Giles had only taken half a step before it vanished again.

"Oh, bugger," he muttered. "Buffy's going to kill me."

* * *

"UhHNnn..."

_What... what **was** that?_ a very different Kyle Rayner tried to sort through his thoughts. _There were those two people, **whoever** they were, and then... last thing I remember is that guy who was calling himself Atom putting his **hand** through my chest..._

He looked around... and saw nothing but red.

"Holy crap... where the hell **am** I?"

"It's called the Bleed," an eerie and hollow voice answered from behind him. He turned in surprise and saw little girl floating there innocently, hands behind her back. "It's a dimensional anomaly. A space that doesn't exist and lies between worlds."

"What?" he blinked.

"The Bleed isn't a void, not exactly," she explained, her voice hollow and eerie. "A void is a space without matter. The Bleed is a space without **space**. It is the absence of existence between worlds."

"Who... who are you?"

Her eyes flashed green, and she answered, "I am the Key."

Kyle blinked. He knew the Key. Had fought him before. Last he checked, the Key was an almost dead-looking super-criminal with psycho-chemicals, not a cute-as-a-button ten year old girl.

She blinked and shook her head, shedding the eeriness, then spoke with a perfectly normal voice, "Name's Dawn. C'mon, there are two boys stuck in here too, and I think we're all gonna need help to get out. This way."

Kyle Rayner, otherwise known as Ion, followed, a bemused look on his face.

* * *

"You brought back Jericho, you can bring back Conner," Robin said.

Raven shot him a tired look, "I already told you. I only created Jericho's body. His soul was in the disk, but Conner's has moved on. Whatever I created would be nothing more than a soulless puppet."

"What if you could get Conner's soul?" Wonder Girl spoke quietly.

Raven looked at her, "What do you mean?"

"Halloween," she said. "Remember? Xander was **possessed** by Conner."

"That was very powerful magic, with the strength of a god behind it," Raven reminded her. "Chaos magic at that, unpredictable, uncontrollable."

"But what if Conner's soul is still in Xander?"

Raven had no answer to that one.

"You can look, can't you?" Robin pressed. "It couldn't hurt, could it?"

"...very well," she said finally, "but only with Alexander's permission."

She turned to leave room, jumping back with a start as the door opened to reveal Xander standing before her.

"I heard," he said quietly. "Go ahead. Take a look."

* * *

Dawn Summers was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Her trip to the Bleed and subsequent encounters with Ion (formerly Green Lantern) and Monarch (formerly Captain Atom) had been... intense, but that was far from the only reason she was nervous. Some things had happened almost as she remembered it, but others... hadn't.

Career Week at the high school had come and gone almost without incident. No Order of Taraka, no Kendra, no sign of Spike at all.

That had her jumpy enough, but when Buffy's birthday rolled around... no Judge, no Angelus, again, no sign of Spike. And Buffy seemed to actually be listening to her imaginitive and creative thoughts on the sorts of venereal diseases a two hundred year old vampire might be carrying.

It was starting to creep her out.

* * *

WHAM!

Xander groaned as he picked himself up off the floor. Shaking his head clear, he turned back to his opponent and dropped into a fighting stance.

"Again."

"Are you sure you want to keep doing this?" Buffy asked hesitantly. "I mean, that's... what? Twenty times I've put you down?"

"Eighteen. And for the eighteenth time, Buffy," Xander said, "yes, I'm sure I want to keep doing this." He waved off-handedly at where the red sunblade he had acquired rested, lighting up the room in a soft red glow that cancelled most of his powers. "I can't keep relying on my powers, Buffy. One of these days, I'm going to run into something faster, stronger, and tougher than me, and I'm going to need to be ready for it."

"But..."

"Look, Buff," he said reassuringly. "I've still got my TTK field up, remember? It's not like you're actually hurting me."

_Much,_ he added silently. Sometimes, his concentration would slip, and the bruises were starting to add up.

* * *

WHAM!

Xander staggered back to his feet again, breathing hard, and glared at a shadowy corner of the room, "So, you seen enough, or are you gonna hide in the shadows all night?"

Buffy turned, "What? Who's there? Angel?"

"Angel doesn't have a heartbeat," Xander stated. Buffy's eyes narrowed and went flat as she realized who it was.

"Batman," she said flatly. "What are you doing here?"

Xander blinked at the hostility in her voice, then shrugged it off and snorted, "What else? Engaging in his favorite hobby: watching people like some demented Peeping Tom."

He responded to Batman's glare with an insolent grin. Then ducked Buffy's smack and shot her an injured look, "Come on! You know you were thinking it too."

Batman ignored their antics and said, "You're training under red solar radiation."

"Wow," Xander said dryly. "You really **are** the World's Greatest Detective."

"Why?"

"I would have thought that would be obvious," Xander noted mildly. "Especially to you."

"Oh?"

"You're not the only one who likes to be prepared."

Batman frowned, "I'll be watching you."

"Of course you will," Xander said coolly. "I wouldn't expect anything else."

The Dark Knight's gaze swept over to where the red sunblade, and he approached and studied it. "Where did you get it?"

"From Batgirl, when she was still under Deathstroke's influence," Xander replied.

"Speaking of which," Buffy broke in, "what the hell were you thinking when you ditched her like that last year, huh?"

"Gotham," he said quietly. "Gotham needed to be protected."

"I thought that's what you had Two-Face for," Xander said scornfully.

Batman glared at them both, then turned and vanished.

Xander sighed and shook his head, walking over to the red sunblade. "Well, I'm beat," he said. "I'll do a quick aerial patrol, then head home. You?"

"I think I'll work out a little longer," Buffy replied.

Xander nodded over his shoulder and took off, sword deactivated and sheathed. Buffy turned and began going through a kata she remembered, trying to calm herself down. The anger and righteous indignation slowly cooled, and the frenzied activity eventually slowed, until she finally slumped down and sighed.

She jerked upright and spun, flinging her stake and drawing a spare on instinct. The flying stake was caught in mid-air by the shadowy figure she had sensed; the figure stepped out of the shadows.

"Hello, S-"

"I **told** you not to call me that," Buffy growled. "Call me Buffy."

Batgirl nodded, "Would you like to spar, Buffy?"

Buffy grinned.

* * *

Author's Postscript:

Things are getting interesting now, aren't they?

And yes, that was the JOH Kyle Rayner that Xander and Buffy met.


	11. Chapter 11

Title: Teen of Steel: Reforged (11/?)

Author: Cyclone

Feedback: Please be gentle.

Distribution: Gimme credit and a link.

Rating: Maybe a little harsh language, certainly some violence, but nothing worse than on BtVS.

Spoilers: Diverges wildly after Halloween for BtVS with possible spoilers up to the season eight comic and pretty much up to current DCU.

Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to other people. I'm just borrowing them for a while.

Summary: YAHF. When a young man comes back from the dead, how will his friends react?

Author's Note: Another interlude-style chapter. Bits and pieces that need to be shown that lead up to stuff.

* * *

Raven woke up screaming.

She took a moment to calm herself down as the nightmare faded. Or... not a nightmare. A memory. A memory of what she had seen inside Xander's mind...

Conner's soul was gone. Of that, she was sure. There was still a lingering presence of him, but it was just an echo. There had been other echoes as well, echoes she did not recognize -- Beast, Warrior, and Hunter; Hand, Spirit, and Mind -- but it was none of these that disturbed her sleep.

No, it was the formidable protections weaved over his soul that plagued her dreams, powerful magical wards with an avatar that bore a disturbing resemblance to herself on a bad day: pitch black hair and eyes, veins visible through her pale skin, power positively crackling from her fingertips.

Wards that had made it quite clear that she was not welcome and had forcibly ejected her. She had told the other Titans' about the echoes she had found in the first moments of babbling coherence, then shrugged off their concern as she regained control... but she would be watching him. He clearly had no idea that his mind had been warded, especially given his reaction when she told him, but whoever had placed those protections had been powerful indeed and must have had reason to do so.

Yes, she would definitely be watching him.

* * *

"Okay," Willow said, finally whirling around to glare at the intruder, "I've had enough of this. Who are you, what are you, and why are you in my room?"

"Uhh... you can see me?" the white-skinned spirit blinked in surprise.

Willow nodded and picked up her phone, "And I have an exorcist and the Slayer on speed-dial, so start talking, buster."

"Would you believe I'm on a mission from God?"

"Belushi, you're not," she said, crossing her arms. "You're paler than a vampire, dressed like a Dracula wannabe, and we're right on top of the hellmouth. Try again."

"Okay, okay. My name's Boston Brand, I'm a ghost, and Rama Kushna sent me."

"Rama Kushna?" she frowned. "Why did she send you?"

"Um, as I understand it, to keep you from destroying the world."

* * *

He wasn't a particularly selfless sort. On the other hand, he wasn't blinded by Sunnydale Syndrome either... well, not since Halloween, anyway. And in the weeks since then, as he snooped around, he finally came to a conclusion.

The Mayor had to be stopped.

He didn't want to skip graduation when it came at the end of next school year. On the other hand, he didn't want to get eaten either. Therefore, the Mayor had to be stopped.

Now if he could just find a sucker who'd be willing to pay him for it.

* * *

Warren Mears stood in his basement and smiled triumphantly at his newest creation as he activated it. He wasn't sure where he got the idea, but the newest robot was truly lethal. April still followed him around like a moping puppy, but he could still channel her irritating devotion to something useful. The new robot hummed to life, and its menacing eyes glowed orange.

"Greetings, Master. Statement: HK-47 is ready to serve. Query: Who do you want me to kill?"

* * *

"Look, I just want to find out-"

"Cool it, Speed Loser," came the sharp response. "It's magic. What else do you need to know?" With a negligent toss, she sent a pebble skipping across the water's surface.

Bart ground his teeth in frustration and hurled his own pebble, which plonked right into the lake without even skipping once. She just wasn't listening. They had met a few times since their first meeting, all here, where the "race" had ended, on the shores of Lake Champlain.

"I realize that," he said, picking up another pebble, "but you're tapping into the Speed Force. Not even Jay can do that anymore. This isn't just some minor prank spell. This is some major power we're talking about here."

"So?" she snorted, sending another pebble skittering across the lake. "Why should I care?" Bart was really starting to annoy her. She wondered why she bothered meeting him here anymore. _Probably because it beats having Daddy wonder where I picked up a superhero stalker,_ she thought darkly.

"Because it could be important," he argued. "It might not be permanent. What if you're flying, and you suddenly lose your powers?"

"As if," she rolled her eyes. "Just because I **can** fly doesn't mean I **will**. I'm quite comfortable on the ground, thank you very much. If you wanna know more, why don't you ask one of those mystic hero types you hang around with?" With that, she rose to her feet and zoomed off.

Bart looked up at the heavens, "This is karma, isn't it?"

* * *

K.O.R.D. Industries had suffered greatly from the sudden and mysterious death of their owner and CEO, Ted Kord. Still, the company wasn't about to go down without a fight and had rebounded surprisingly well. It was, in fact, expanding. Sunnydale, California proved to be a gold mine of inexpensive property with extensive facilities, including the abandoned Calax Research & Development building. The full computer and robotics setup inside was an incredibly lucky find, worth almost as much as K.O.R.D. Industries had paid for the entire property.

For the first time in nearly a year, power ran through the former CRD building. It started as a twitch. A hum. Ever so slowly but surely, something... awakened.

* * *

Dawn was in the Bleed again. It was her fifth foray into the bizarre nonexistence between worlds, and she was slowly getting used to it. It helped that the Bleed seemed to respond to her will... to the point that she could alter herself while in it.

It was great being twenty-six again.

_Kinda like... Magik,_ she thought. _And on **that** note..._ She extended a hand and tried to focus her energy into her hand. With a sudden pop and a release of strain that surprised her, she found herself holding a glowing green broadsword.

"Of course it had to be green," she snorted, taking a few experimental swings with it. "Cool. A Keyblade," she smirked at the joke no one would get for several more years.

She twisted around and flew, revelling in the freedom of motion as she soared through the Bleed, avoiding the Carrier as it cruised past. She had **no** interest in visiting the Wildstorm universe -- aka Earth... 50? 51? Whatever -- or attracting the Authority's attention. That could only result in all sorts of badness. Spinning around freely, she grinned until one last turn put her face to face with...

"Monarch," she whispered in a strangled voice.

"Hello, little girl."

She gulped.

"Um, hi?"

* * *

In Metropolis, two superpowered teenaged girls were hanging out. Surprisingly, this did not result in large quantities of property damage... yet, at least.

"So," Kara Zor-El asked, leaning back on her bed, "what's the dish on the new Superboy?"

"What?" Cassie Sandsmark looked up at her in surprise from where she sat cross-legged on the floor. "Who told you about him?"

"Robin."

"Of **course** he did," Cassie growled icily, grinding her teeth. Why couldn't Tim just accept Xander? Shaking it off, she dragged her thoughts back to Kara's question, "As for the new Superboy... he's not Conner, Kara, not really. But he's so close... it's hard to tell the difference at times."

"Oh," Kara said, pausing to digest that. "I see."

"What's wrong?"

Kara looked away, "Actually, to tell you the truth, Cassie... I've met him."

"You did?" Cassie blinked. "When?"

"I had a... a mission, and Robin suggested I bring him as backup."

"Oh, okay," Cassie nodded, a little surprised that Tim would do that, considering how little he trusted Xander. "So what's the big deal?"

"Cassie..." the Kryptonian girl continued anxiously, "...I kissed him."

The room suddenly seemed to drop a good thirty degrees.

"Oh. Is that so?"

* * *

"Umm... Xander?" Willow said, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt as they sat in the park studying.

"Yeah, Will?" he asked absently, tapping his pencil against his lip.

"You, um, busy tonight?"

"Don't think so, why?"

"Want to, um, go out?"

"Sure, Will, always have time to hang with my bestest bud," he replied automatically.

"Um, not... not to hang... sort of... um... date?"

"Huh?" he finally looked up, confussion written all over his face.

"Date," she repeated, looking him in the eyes, nothing but determination in hers. "You know, guy and girl, going out..."

"But..."

"Xander," she glared, Resolve Face on.

"Yes, Willow?" he replied automatically

"Yes or no?"

"And don't you **dare** say yes just to humor me."

"Yes, Willow," he said quickly.

"...was that to mock me or to say yes?"

"Umm..."

Willow sighed. Obviously, she wasn't getting through to him. Finally screwing up her courage, she squared her shoulders and leaned forward, kissing him hard on the lips. Ten years of pent-up frustration and emotion poured itself out into the kiss, and she moaned as he responded.

When oxygen finally became an issue, she pulled back and gazed at him across the picnic table, "All right, Xander. If you can honestly look me in the eyes and say you felt nothing but ickiness from that, I will never speak of this again, all right?"

"Umm..."

* * *

_I'm on a date with Willow,_ Xander thought, sitting at a corner table in the Bronze with his aforementioned date fiddling anxiously with her straw next to him. _I'm on a **date** with Willow. I'm on a date with **Willow**. I'm on a **date** with **Willow**. How the hell did this happen?_

Xander sighed before he hung his head, "Women are cruel and occasionally strange. And sneaky, never forget sneaky."

Thwap!

* * *

"Be careful, Buffy," Joyce said, handing her daughter a packed snack.

"Duty calls, Mom," Buffy replied. "Don't worry. I'll be fine. It's just a couple of fresh risers and a quick patrol. No big."

"I'm your mother, young lady; you'd best remember that," came the quick retort. "It's my job to worry, super Vampire Slayer powers or not."

Buffy rolled her eyes and headed out. Mom could be so... mom-ish at times, it was annoying. She was the Slayer; this was a walk in the park for her. Literally, considering her patrol route.

_You'd think, after two years, she'd be used to it by now..._ she thought sourly. Thinking back to when she'd first told her mother about it, she did have to admit that her mother had improved quite a bit since then.

And her first reaction had been a lot better than Buffy had expected, to be honest. She had half-expected to find herself in a straitjacket and padded room by the end of the night, but then again, in a world with superheroes who regularly fly around in spandex and capes, the whole Vampire Slayer thing was pretty tame by comparison.

* * *

Author's Postscript:

Okay, I know the Joyce-knowing bit seems to have come out of left field, but the basic idea is that Buffy **did** tell Joyce about the Slayer thing when she first found out. In canon, that put her in the mental ward; in a world with superheroes, that's somewhat less likely. And as for Willow finally taking the first step... well... Rose gave her a time limit, and the clock is ticking.

Oh, and hands up, anyone who thinks this date is actually going to end well.


End file.
